Strike witches: Apocalypse Now
by OZONE SNIPER
Summary: a new threat has revealed itself in North Vietnam in the year 1969. the witches have lost the ability to use magic but the battle continues through their children. the new witches must come together to fight this new threat.
1. A new threat rising

**North Vietnam 1969**

A thin fog moves through the thick forest as dew settles on the leaves of small plants that consume the ground. the sun has risen high above the tropical wasteland of Asia. the air is filed with the rustle of small animals in the brush and the call of birds high above. a low growl of an engine begins to stir the silence of the afternoon. a large truck cuts down a path at a high speed as it heads towards its destination. running over plants and clipping small tree branches on its way. the truck comes to a stop as blades of grass and mud are thrown about. troops begin to file out of the back of the tented military vehicle and aim their weapons into the forest. from the front of the truck their superior officer steps out throwing his helmet on his head.

"alright boys. we have reports of and unknown threat that has been seen retreating to this area. i want you all to do a thorough sweep and keep a good eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Y'all got that! lets role out i want this done quick!" the commander shouted as he through his rifle over his shoulder and the troops divided off into the thick forest in teams of two.

"I don't like this one bit." said one of the soldiers to his partner as they moved through the large leaves. "who do you think is out here that we are searching pockets of the forest"

"isn't it obvious kid. its got to be the space ships" said the taller soldier who was following shortly behind him.

"what are you talking about. what are the space ships" He asked turning to him with a puzzled face.

"you know the black ships from the 40's that occupied Karlsland. the Neuroi must be back"

"thats just crazy. if the Neuroi had returned we would know and not be dead reckoning"

"whatever. when we find it we'll know. im gonna take the right over this way can you check out the ditch to the left"

"are you sure its a good idea to split up" the younger soldier asked as he looks off into the forest

"its fine if you see anything just hit the rest of us up on the walkie-talkie"

"alright" the soldier said as he headed for the ditch in the distance. the ground went from filled with dense plants to dry dirt. the land suddenly went into an incline almost directly down into the ditch. the young soldier slides down the side of the wall and falls down to the bottom. it was deeper and wider than he had first thought as he picked himself up and started to walk. soon the ditch began to widen to a point where a tank could fit comfortable down it. the soldier leaned against a large rock and pulled a carton of cigarettes out of his pocket. he strikes up a match and begins to take a drag to cool himself off after not finding anything so far. he pulls it out of his mouth and exhales the smoke into the air. " there's nothing out here. I'm just making myself paranoid. the neuroi left years ago." he tells himself as he lets the burnt half of the cigarette fall to the ground.

The earth began to rattle a bit as the soldier began to look around to find out what was going on. the dirt began to crack beneath him as he fell onto his back and started crawling backwards on his hands to get away from the raising land. he moves against the wall of the ditch trying to get away. a large black crab like leg raises out of the ground followed by its large cube like body. on top of the cube was a cylinder with glowing red hexagons on it. the rest of it was plated with black hexagons. as it raised itself to its full height the neuroi towered above the soldier. the man grabbed his rifle off his back and began to open on the bottom of the neuroi. the aliens red hexagons began to shine a bright red as it aimed right down at him.

"AUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!" the soldier screams can be heard high above the forest

...

**Karlsland**

A cool breeze rolled over the hills of the countryside in the warm summer as a girl lays beneath a tree. long brown hair is spread out beneath her head as she looks up past the tall branches into the sky. her eyes are closed as she takes in the warmth from the sun and runs her hand through the grass. this young relaxed teen is Maxine Barkhorn the daughter of the great war hero Gertrude Barkhorn. compared to her mother she seems to be the exact opposite of her. she is easy-going and relaxed while her mother was heavy-handed and serious.

Maxine had the same skills as her mother when it came to magic though. she had learned the ropes of piloting a striker from her mother and learned how to fire and maintain many weapons. along with that was her mothers rigorous training but even with all that she was a relaxed person. when she got the chance to get away from her training she would take it. Maxine listened to music on a tape recorder while she lay on top of the hill. she would wait for her favorite songs to come on the radio so she could record them on this new device and listen to it when she wanted. it was a personal item that she took everywhere she went even though it was a bit bulky.

A cool breeze rolled over her body moving the grass around her back and forth than the sun warmed her skin again. it was a perfectly peaceful day.

"Maxine!" She heard breaking the silence as her eyes shot open in fear. sitting up and taking of her headphones she looked of the side of the hill to see her mother was coming up to get her.

Barkhorn had gotten to the top of the hill to see that Maxine had vanished. the change into an adult was clearly shown in Gertrude as she had grown a bit taller over the years. she still wears her hair with two bows in it. she is wearing civilian attire though other than the Karlsland officer uniform she would wear in the 501st. she looked around and saw that Maxine had left her tape recorder on the ground in her haste to get away.

"Maxine i need to talk to you. if you want to hear your Rolling Stones again you better come out" she threatens pulling the tape out of the recorder an looking it over.

"don't!" Barkhorn hears from above her as she looks up to see Maxine was hiding up in the tree.

"Maxine this is very childish. come down i need to talk to you" Barkhorn says as she tosses the tape up to her. Maxine jumps out and catches the tape but falls quickly to the ground with a thud.

"ouch.. that hurt." Maxine states with an embarrassed look on her face as she makes sure the tape is alright.

"i can't understand your obsession with this noise" Barkhorn says as she helps her daughter up

"its not noise mom. its Rock from Britannia. you wouldn't understand my taste. what did you want to talk to me about"

"oh yes. i have an important letter for you from the Karlsland air force recruitment office." Barkhorn says pulling the note from her pocket

"what could they wan't with me" Maxine asked as she began to read the letter

_Maxine Barkhorn,_

_ as the spouse of Gertrude Barkhorn we request your magical abilities to aid in military operation. a situation has begun to unfold that your talents are needed to counteract. You will report to Florida, Liberion to be placed into your unit. your enemy and mission will be explained when you arrive at the base. we await your response._

_-Karlsland Air force_

"why do they wan't me to join the Air Force" Maxine asks as she closes the letter

"there must be a threat that their own forces cannot fight. they must want your magical abilities that i have passed on to you." Barkhorn responds

"and what if i refuse" Maxine says as she gives her mom back the letter

"Maxine you have a power that not many other people have. you are a strong girl and i have raised you to make the right decisions. you must fight to defend your people. if you refuse and something does happen you will never be able to forgive yourself. your power is great and you must now use what i have taught you to defend this world like i did when i was your age. it never crossed my mind to not fight for what i believed in and it shouldn't cross yours. i am not telling you to do this... you have to make that decision on your own. what do you chose to do?"

the two retained eye contact for a moment in silence until Maxine finally spoke.

"alright. i chose to fight" She says with a smile as she picks up her tape recorder "but I'm taking this with me"

"i ask for nothing less" Barkhorn says as she puts her arm over her shoulders. "lets go get you packed your plane is leaving early in the morning"

"wait you already booked a flight before you told me about this!" Maxine says shocked

"yeah i was sending you however you responded" Barkhorn joked as the two walked down the hill and headed back to town.

...

**War Room- Liberion**

the rustle of papers and the chatter of officers is all that can be heard at the large table in the dim lit room. as the men talk to one another about their currant situation and about what should be done. the man at the end of the table stands as all the others go quiet to see what he has to say.

"I believe that you all have a good idea of why i have called you here" he says as one officer passes folders around the table. the lights go out as a projector switches on displaying a map onto a screen. it was a map of Vietnam with many circles and lines drawn around it.

"three months ago citizens and villagers throughout North Vietnam had started to abandon their land for an unknown reason. the movements have been happening in a radius to the center of North Vietnam." the General states as he points out the large circle that stretched far from the center of the country.

"so why have the villagers been abandoning their homes" said one of the diplomats.

"we were wondering the same thing until we sent in a small squad of troops to investigate. sadly none of them returned to report their findings but we do have this recording of a radio transmission from the squads sergeant in command to the base." the general said as he places the tape into the cassette player on the table and turned it on. he than sat in his chair as the static started. it was soon interrupted by the sergeants voice.

"come in! this is Chicago squad! oh god its coming retreat" the tape is than interrupted by static "come in! this is Chicago Squad! We need Medical assistance! we have three casualties two injuries and two men are MIA." the sound of a high pitch screech can be heard in the background "oh god no!" the recording goes back to static than cuts off.

the general stands back up as the lights come back on "men i can say without a shadow of a doubt that that was a neuroi attack."

"but there hasn't been a report of a hive on earth since the 40's" said one of the men on the other side of the table.

"yes that is true. in the best case scenario this is just a straggler that went down during the war." the general said taking his seat. "it may have just reawaken in the past months and thinks its still trying to occupy the land. that or its a whole new invasion about to happen and this is just the begging."

"so what are we going to do about this" asked one of the diplomats.

"our first plan was go regroup the witches that had originally defeated the neuroi back in 1944 but sadly they are no help to us because they have lost their magical abilities in their older age. we have figured out, though, that the witches have had children that posses the abilities of their parents. we are now attempting to gain access to them all and create a new wing of witches to combat this possible threat."

"general are you sure this will work." asked an officer

"its one of our best shots if this does escalate into another neuroi war. but we want to stop that before it comes to that."

...

**Fuso**

The waves break on the shore of Fuso as a girl with long black hair stands on the beach with a katana griped in her hand. the sun is beginning to set as the sky is filled with shades of pink and orange. the girls long shadow is stretched along the beach as she slowly raises the blade out of its sheath and holds it out in front of her. the blade reflects rays of the sun in all directions as she positions the sword above her head and swings it down. the girl stands there practicing her slashes for many minuets.

this girl is the daughter of Mio Sakamoto, Shina. she took her training very seriously just like her mother. learning the art of flight, magic, and weaponry from her mother along with the ways of the sword for many years. diligently training her to be a great soldier as she enlisted in the Fuso Air Force at the age of 14. she was very much like her mother in ways other than her abilities in combat though. she had that same sense of kindness that she would show to her fellow pilots. at the current rank of flight lieutenant she felt that she had a large legacy to live up to in the air force.

A boy in a navy uniform walks down the beach towards her.

"excuse me. Are you Flight Lieutenant Shina Sakamoto." he calls over to her.

Shina places her sword back into the Sheath and turns to the boy.

"yes can i help you with something" she asks not knowing why the boy came all this way

"Hello FL Sakamoto. I am Petty Officer 2nd Class Elway." he says giving her a salute. the young dark-haired Petty Officer was wearing a black Liberion navy uniform. he was taller than Shina by probable ten incehs but he looked about 19 years old. just one year older than her. Shina did not find it strange to see someone from Liberion this far out. she was confused about what he wanted her for "I have been instructed to deliver this transfer letter to you and accompany you to your destination" he says handing her the letter.

"transfer. where are they sending me" she says as she opens the note and begins to read it out loud."you will be reporting to Liberion along with PO2 Elway. we will explain the reason when you arrive. this is very strange don't you believe so Officer Elway." she questioned as she puts the letter in her pocket.

"i think everything will become clear when we make it to Florida. my vehicle is parked up the beach. i can take you back to you base so you can pack. care to take a walk with me Flight Lieutenant Sakamoto."

"i would love to" she says with a smile taking her place next to him as they started to walk down the beach"seeing as we are going to be spending a lot of time together you don't have to keep calling me Flight Lieutenant Sakamoto. you can just call me Shina." she says giving him a smile.

"oh alright" he said as they reached the jeep

"do you have a first name or am i going to have to call you Petty Officer 2nd Class Elway the whole trip." she said in a joking way getting into the passenger seat.

"my name is Nick. Nickolas J Elway." he told her as he started the jeep. with a loud roar the car started to move as he drove it down the road.

"well its nice to meet you Nick." she said finally making Nick Smile as they road towards the base.


	2. calling all witches

**Fuso**

The sun was held high above the Miyafuji clinic as a young girl walked inside. the small building had medical supplies spread out on the shelves and many beds throughout the clinic. the little girl had a bag that she placed on the table as she closed the door behind her.

"mom i picked up the bandages we needed. mom? Dad?" the little girl looked throughout the building to see that it was empty. "that's weird they were here when i left." she asked herself as she started to put the bandages away. this brown haired girl is Masako Miyafuji the 15 year old daughter of Yoshika Miyafuji. she was about the same height as her mother when she was her age. she also had short brown hair like her mother but she combed it straight down. she helped her mom out in the family clinic with her magical abilities. she has the ability to heal people like her mother did before losing it at the end of the war. she spent her days at school or in the clinic helping the people of the town get on their feet after sickness or injury.

Masako hummed a song to herself as she finished putting away the supplies and closed the cabinet. than a knock came at the door.

"come in" she said. the door flung open as a boy helped a man with bloody rags into the clinic and onto a bed.

"Dr. Miyafuji you need to help my father he cut his leg open working on the farm. Dr. Miyafuji? Masako where is your mother?" he asked looking around the clinic.

"shes not in. i can help." she said running over to the bed.

"are you sure you can keep your magic under control without your mothers coaching Masako" the boy asked as Masako pulled the dirty rags off of the mans wound.

"i don't think we have a choice" she says as she puts her hands over the wound. a large blue orb grows around Masako as she starts to heal the gash. the ears of a Mameshiba grew out of her head and a tail grew out of her lower back. the glow warmed the air as Masako healed the mans wound. she started to feel weak as the magic drained her body of its strength. as the wound closed Masako had reached her limit and the blue orb faded away. Masako's vision started to fade to black as the man came around and sat up in the bed.

"Masako!" he shouted as she fell to her knees and then onto the ground unconscious."we need to find Dr. Miyafuji. why would she do something this reckless"

...

**Britannia **

"adjust your cross hairs and take into account wind conditions and the round of the land." Said Lynette Bishop to a girl looking through the scope of a rifle. " use your magic to center on the target and once you are sure you have the shot fire"

the gun goes of with a large blast of sound and in seconds the target on the other end of the field is hit in the center directly.

"Bulls-eye" the girl remarks as she sets the safety on her M21 and jumps up in joy.

"well done" Lynette says smiling to her daughter "now lets see if you can do it while flying."

"i can do it blind folded" she gloated as she loaded more bullets into the clip.

this is Alice Bishop. the self proclaimed Ace marksman of Britannia. she is much taller than her mother and more social than she was in the 501st. she has much more confidence than her mother but she also does her best when the time comes to a fight. she also wears her hair in a long braid like her mother did in the fighter wing. Along with gaining her mothers ability to focus her shots with magic she also gained her large chest that seems to run in the family. Lynette has spent many days training her daughter in how to fire rifles to the best of her ability along with using her magical abilities that were passed down in the family line. all for the day she may have to participate in combat she wants her to be ready. and that day has come sooner than she thought.

A motorcycle comes thundering down the trail and stops close to the two as the man on board gets off and removes his helmet. the man was actually much younger than he appeared as he was probably only 16 years old but an older 16. he had short cut blond hair and was dressed in the dark blue and red uniform of the Britannian Royal Marines.

"are you Lynette and Alice Bishop." the boy asked

"yes" Alice answered walking over to the boy

"i am Sergeant Aaron Thompson of the Royal Marines. i have an important message for you." he said as he reaches into his pocket and hands Alice a letter. she opens it and reads it to herself. "i am instructed to transport you to Florida where you will receive further orders on what you will be participating in.

Alice turns to her mother with a troubled look in her eyes. "what should i do mom" Alice asks her not ready to make a decision that can drastically change her life.

Lynette reads the letter than looks to her daughter and smiles. "you should do what your heart tells you. it seems like these people really need you."

a smile comes over Alice's face as she turns back to Aaron. "alright soldier boy i hope you brought an extra helmet looks like your taking me to Florida" she says getting very close to Aaron to a point where they were almost touching than. Aaron got a strange feeling of mixed emotions as she gets closer. she than whisperer to him. "you know i love a man in uniform". when she stands next to him you can see how tall she is. she is almost as tall as Aaron.

Aaron swallows hard and responds with red in his face "really?"

"just kidding"she says than suddenly she brushed him away and walked over to the bike. "you coming"

an embarrassed smile presents itself on Aaron's face as he thinks he may have gotten one of the worst assignments of his life.

"you should probably get packed first" he says with a laugh as he starts the bike with a loud roar.

"i'll see you back at the house mom. i need to say goodbye to dad." she says as Aaron turns the bike around and they set off back into town.

"She is defiantly growing up fast. i feel sorry for that boy though" Lynette remarks with a smile as she starts to walk down the path.

...

**Fuso airport**

Shina and Nick board a civilian aircraft and take their seats among the many other people. there were a few other military officers on board probably on their leave.

Shina takes her seat by the window and Nick sits down next to her.

"do you have any idea of whats to come when we get to Florida Nick." Shina asks

"i know as much as you do officer Sakamoto" he says buckling his seat belt before take off.

"i don't like not being informed of things. it makes me feel unprepared for whats to come. and i told you not to call me officer Sakamoto."

"sorry Shina its hard to get out of the military mind set." he says with a sigh

"there's no need to be sorry. its no big deal. we have a long plane ride though. tell me about yourself."

"im not that interesting" Nick says looking to Shina

"come on. i want to get to know you." Shina says with a sad face

"alright. what do you want to know"

"i don't know how old you are or where you were born. we can start with that."

"okay. i'm 19 years old and i was born in Lexington Massachusetts."

"Lexington. isn't that some famous town in the history of your country." she asked trying to remember what it was.

"actually yes. it was where the first battle between the Britannians and the Liberion Colonists took place during the Liberion revolution for independence from Britannia."

"did they win"

"at that battle they were slaughtered but we did end up winning the revolution in the end."

"so on a non historical note. why did you join the military" Shina asked

"my dad was in the Navy. he achieved the rank of Fleet Admiral during the Neuroi wars."

"wow. so you joined to follow in his footsteps."

"yeah. i have a long way to go." Nick says with a sigh "did you join because of your mother."

"yes. she was such a great fighter during the Neuroi wars. i had heard so many stories of her bravery and skill. She taught me so much from the moment i could hold a sword." she says with a laugh

"you also posses her power of the magic eye."

"I do. but it seems to have changed over the generations for some reason. in all the photos i saw of my mother from when she had her magical abilities she wore a patch over her eye to cover it up. i am able to activate it when i focus my ability see." she says showing him that her eyes are both the same color. the two look into each others eyes as they sit next to each other. a silence falls over the two as Nick looks deep into Shina's eyes and Shina back into Nick's. Shina's Face suddenly turns red as she realized what was going on and she quickly turned around and looked out the window.

"i'm sorry... i'm.. um uh... very tired and need to rest my eyes!" she says as she suddenly closes her eyes and lays her head on her arm and pretends to fall asleep. Nick just looks at her in surprise as his face had also turned red. than Nick felt a tap on his shoulder. when he turned around he saw an older military officer from Fuso with a white mustache but no hair on his head. by the look of his uniform Nick could see the old man was a Major.

"i think she likes you son." he says to him with a cracked laugh that only an old man could muster.

"what makes you think that" Nick says looking back at Shina whose face was still burning red as she tried to cover it up without drawing Nick's attention.

"trust me son" he said with a smile "when you have been around as long as i have you know this stuff."

Nick smiles to the Major than looks over to Shina. than he shuts his eyes and sits back in his seat.

'maybe she does like me. i like her' He thinks to himself as he drifts off to sleep.


	3. the kids are alright

**Liberion**

The roar of an engine and the screech of tiers fill the air as a motorcycle kicks up the dirt in the empty field. the driver wears a dark helmet that covered her face as she reaches high speeds in the desert. the wind broke around her and shaped to her body as she went faster and faster. As she drove, far down the line targets sprang up from under the dirt on poles. the girl released the handle bars and pulled two M1911s out of the holsters on her side. as she passed the targets one by one she shot them down. in the side of her vision she noticed that she missed one of the targets. she abruptly pulled the bike on its side and spun it around as it kicked up a huge cloud of dust. the dust cloaks for yards as the girl drives the bike out of the cloud. she lines up her shot and hits the last target directly in the center as it flies backwards. she zooms past before it hits the ground.

the girl rides her bike up to a woman leaning against her parked motorcycle. the girl removes her helmet that was now coated in brown dirt. as her long red hair fell onto her shoulders. this gunslingers name is Michelle Yeager. shes a tall girl with allot of skill with a motorcycle. she learned everything form her mother Charlotte the spunky Ace of Liberion. Though she shared her mothers thirst for speed she also had a knack for guns. she loved maintaining weaponry as much as her mother maintained her striker unit. She did gain her mothers magic power to use the air around her to push her to unmatched speeds. along with the magical ability she obtained from her mother she also gained the large breasts that her mother was so proud of in her days.

"you missed one on your first run by" Shirley said as her daughter wiped the dirt off her helmet with a rag.

"I know. wasn't going fast enough for the shot to line up correctly" Michelle says as she puts the helmet on the bikes handle bars.

"you need to concentrate on your target and not rely on your movement to line up the shot"

"i know. its a hard habit to break" she says with a sigh

"don't get so down on yourself" Shirley says as she rustles Michelle's hair "your a good shot anyway"

"come on mom" Michelle says as she fixes her hair back to its straight comb

"alright we should start heading back before it gets dark" Shirley says as she turns around "hmmm.. whats that?" Shirley bends over the bike and squints her eyes looking off into the distance at a cloud of dust slowly moving towards them.

The object was a Green jeep with the Liberion stars painted on it. the jeep stops in front of the two girls as the cloud of dirt follows close behind. the dust rushes over the two as they close their eyes and cover it with their sleeves to not get any dirt in them. when the dust clears the boy driving the car had already gotten out and was standing in front of the two. he removed the goggles and bandanna from his face that he used to keep the dirt out of his face while driving in the roofless vehicle. it was a tall boy with medium length brown hair. he was wearing a blue army officer uniform but it had dust on the shoulders from the ride in. he salutes Charlotte as she dusts her chopper off.

"First Lieutenant Malcolm Forest. United States of Liberion Army. i apologize for the mess i made. i have an important message for a Michelle Yeager." he says reading the name off the letter in his hand.

"that's me" Michelle says as Lieutenant Forest hands her the letter. Michelle reads it over and than gives Malcolm a look over."so they want you to take me to Florida and they won't tell me why until i get there."

Malcolm is confused to the fact that he was supposed to transport Michelle to Florida. he had only thought that he was to deliver the letter and return to base.

"i guess so" Malcolm says not wanting to though. he didn't know what he was getting himself into.

"alright Forest. i'm game." she says putting on her helmet and mounting her bike. "follow me back to my house so i can pack. you can clean my helmet when we get there." she says pointing out that the dust had once again settled on her helmet after she had just cleaned it off. she started up the bike with a loud cluck of moving metal and the patter of the engine. she turns the accelerator and takes off down the open desert as the sun begins to set.

"you got some girl their commander Yeager" Malcolm says as he puts his goggles back on and starts to walk over to the car.

"well she grows on you after a while. i think you two are going to get along" Charlotte says as she puts on her goggles and takes of after Michelle.

"yeah. I want to get to know her better" Malcolm says to himself as he starts the jeep. Malcolm believes that he should say something to his commander about this sudden change but he thinks it might be fun to stay with Michelle for a bit. starting the Jeep and setting out down the road in the desert that stretched on for miles in all directions.

...

**Fuso- Miyafuji medical Clinic**

A cold breeze came through an open window at the clinic as Masako lay on the bed unconscious. she had used all of her energy to heal the mans open wound that she couldn't stay conscious afterwards. her mother had suffered from the same problem in the early days of the war. in attempt to heal people she would not have the energy to keep herself awake or control the power she put out. Her mother always wanted to help people no mater what the cost. Masako would use her powers to heal small wounds that wouldn't take long to fix but she would always have her mother at her side when doing this to help her through.

Masako began to stir from her sleep as her eyes slowly opened. still incredibly tired from the outcome of the day she attempt to sit up in the bed and look around the room. she notices that the man and boy who had been in earlier were no longer around.

"your awake its good to see your alright" Masako hears from behind her as she turns to see a woman had just entered the room. "you should know better than to stress yourself with your powers like that" the woman said takeing a seat next to her daughter.

this woman was none other than the great war hero Doctor Yosika Miyafuji. after losing her ability to use magic in the war she had returned to Fuso to get her medical licence and take over the family clinic. she dedicated herself to her practice over the years and has become a very succesful doctor. though she no longer posseses the abbility to use her powers she still trains her daughter in the ability of magical healing. after years of practice she still strugles with controling her power but she has been improving.

"that was a very reckless desision you made. you should have waited for me to return" Yosika began

"but if i did that man may have blead to death. i didn't know how long you were going to be gone." Masako said back to her mother as she props herself up against the wall next to the bed.

"well the man is fine. you healed the wound completely but you could have hurt yourself seriously in the prosses" Yosika said bringing a sigh of relife from Masako.

"thats good to hear. why were you not in the clinic when i got back" Masako questioned

"i was called down to the Naval base"

"why would they need you at the Naval base. do they want you to come back to the battlefield?" Masako said with a laugh

"no" Masako heared a new voice of a boy as a third person entered the room. he wore the uniform of a Orussian navy officer and had long silver hair that hung down above his light blue eyes. "they need you on the battlefield Masako Miyafuji"

...

**Orussia**

In the cold mountains the snow falls from the clouds and the ground is blanketed in a blinding white sea of snow. the trees are covered in frost and ice coats the lakes. in the side of the mountain is a large hanger that tunnels deep back in. the hanger is filled with jets and crates. the large crates were filled with different assortments of ammunition. each one had the insignia of Orussia. looking behind the large jets and supplies you would see two jet strikers on their launch pads. one is a bit larger than the other because it has large box like containers mounted on the sides. the large one has the insignia of the Orussian Air force painted in red on it while the other has the Suemus insignia on its sides. a little girl no older than 15 sits on a large rectangular crate close to the strikers as she spins a big black disk in her hands. this silver haired Orussian is Tatyana Litvyak. she is the adopted daughter of Sanya Litvyak and Eila Juutilainen.

she recently joined the Orussian air force not more than a year ago with her sister. she was adopted from Orussia when she was three years old. it was early but her magical abilities were discovered when she was in her adoption home. no one wanted to adopt her because they thought that she was strange and chose the more normal children until Sanya came along one day. Sanya was able to find her because they shared the ability of the magical antenna. for a short time Sanya could hear her sad song on the radio waves and came for her. Sanya taught her how to use her ability to listen to the radio waves and communicate with others through the radio. Sanya also taught Tatyana how to play the piano. she taught her many songs from Mozart to the song her father wrote her. Tatyana grew up to be a very kind and energetic girl who was always happy. she is outgoing and always trying her best.

"Are you cold" Tatyana heard from behind her

"oh. yes its a little cold i will go grab my coat." Tatyana tells the girl.

"no its fine" the girl says warmly as she removes her coat "take mine. i wont be out for long"

"Thanks sis" Tatyana says with a smile

this kind hearted sister is Antonia Litvyak. she is Tatyana's older sister from Suemus. Antonia spent her early life in a home as well. she possessed magic but her ability had not yet been molded. she was different from witches who are born with their special ability already possible to use. she had to train to get her ability to form. this meant that she could posses any one ability that she trained to have. when she was five years old she met Eila Juutilainen and was amazed by her ability to see the future. She wanted Eila to train her so she could use that ability as well. She went back to Orussia with her and after training and living with Eila for five months Eila official adopted her as part of their family. Antonia grew up with Tatyana and became very protective over her younger sister. she is kind at heart but very serious when it comes to combat. when outside of combat she can be relaxed around people she knows but around others she is very shy.

"What are you doing out here all alone anyway" Antonia asks as she walks over to her striker and starts to open one of its engines.

"i was cleaning my gun but got distracted by the snow. its just so beautiful" next to Tatyana on the ground was a large DP-28 machine gun. it was well kept and polished to the tee but was missing its disk magazine. the magazine is what Tatyana was playing with as she spun it round and round. she stopped twirling the disk and opens a small cardboard box she was sitting next to. the box was filled 54mm bullets and she started to place them in the circular magazine one by one.

"ahhh Tatyana. what am i going to do with you" Antonia says jokingly as she messes around with her jet striker. Antonia spends allot of her time reading manuals and books on the many different jet strikers and tries to apply her combined knowledge on the many different models to make hers faster and handle better. whenever she has spare time at the base she will tinker with the machine.

"You could always lend her to me" Antonia hears a boys voice echo down the hanger as she looks around the striker to see a Boy wearing a Britannian Air Force Officer Uniform was kneeling on the other side of the strikers. not knowing he was their for such a long time she lets out a yelp and falls backwards.

"oh are you alright" the boy says as he runs over to Antonia and helps her up. Antonia Backs away as her face turns bright red. even though the boy was younger than her she just gets nervous around people she doesn't know.

"shes just shy" Tatyana says as she jumps down from the crate "what can i help you with"

"im Flying Officer Richard Moon." he says with a salute as Tatyana salutes back to him. "i'm here with transfer orders for you and your older sister"

"were being Transferred." Tatyana says as she is handed the letter. "what! Liberion. This is so exciting. I've never been outside of Orussia before. Look Antonia"

Antonia quietly takes the letter and scans it over.

"s.. so your t-taking us to the USL" she musters out in a small voice looking at the ground.

"yes. it is part of a military recruitment and creation of a new unit operation. i'm sorry this is so sudden i was also surprised. this is a direct order from the top though." Richard looks at his watch than back at the girls."alright we need to get you packed though or will miss the plane. don't worry about the strikers. they will be shipped to Liberion as soon as possible."

"Alright Tatyana i'm gonna get my stuff" Antonia says as she walks away.

"is she alright" Richard asks as he watches her walk out the door of the hanger.

"oh yeah shes fine" Tatyana says as she picks up her gun and puts it back with her striker. "shes always like that with new faces especially boys. she begins to loosen up after some time. Can you help me with my bags"

"sure" Richard says as he follows Tatyana to her room.

...

**Britannia **

Aaron waits outside the Bishop residence as he leans against the jeep he picked up at the near by military base while Alice packed her bags. he knew that it would be easier to transport both their suitcases and Alice's rifle in a jeep than a motorcycle. Alice was still saying her goodbyes to her parents and friends. the door to the house opens as Alice walks out saying her last so long as she hastily exits. in one hand is her suitcase and in the other is a case for an acoustic guitar.

Aaron shakes his head.

"why are you bringing that along" Aaron says as he starts to walk towards her

"my mom says i'm going to be gone for a long time so i should take it along to practice and entertain myself."

"whatever you..." Aaron starts but is cut off as Alice trips on a stone that was elevated on the path and comes falling towards him. Aaron puts his hands out and catches her before she falls on her face. He lifts her back up and on her feet.

"are you alright" Aaron says with his arms still around her.

"yeah i'm fine... thanks" Alice says blushing and a little embarrassed. another thing that Alice had inherited from her mother was her bad luck. Alice was a klutz like Lynette but she tried her hardest to hide it and be careful all the time so she wouldn't be embarrassed by others.

"um you can let go of me now soldier boy" Alice says to Aaron as his face turns red realizing that he was still hugging Alice.

the two got into the jeep and Alice put her bags in the back.

"hay Aaron" Alice says as he starts the car

"yeah"

"when you caught me did you grab my breast" she states very bluntly to Aaron making his face turn red again.

"no i... i didn't mean to.. i" Aaron starts to stumble with his words not sure of what to say. Alice starts to laugh seeing she had made Aaron as embarrassed as she was.

"i'm just kidding around. you don't need to freak out" she said to the shy soldier "did you like what you felt" she said again in a blunt way waiting for another reaction.

"i am not going to survive this war and I haven't even met the real enemy" Aaron says his face now totally red as they drove towards the airport.


	4. Come together

**Fuso- Miyafuji medical clinic**

"what no i cant go to war! i can't even fire a gun! i only know how to heal people i can't harm a fly" Masako shouts as she gets out of the bed and clenches her fists.

"but we need you. if you don't people will die. people have already died" Said the boy as he pulls up a chair. he knew that he would be there for a while.

"no i won't. come on mom i need some help here" she says as she turns to Yoshika who was sitting next to the boy.

"im sorry Masako but i think Ivan is correct. you should go with him to Florida"

"who is Ivan" Masako asks with a confused look on her face looking around the room

"I apologize" the boy says standing up "i never introduced myself. i am Chief Petty Officer Ivan Sidorenko of the Orussian Navy."

Ivan Sidorenko is a very serious boy when it comes to the battle field. his father was an expert marksman in Orussia and taught Ivan everything he knew. Ivan Joined the Navy because he never felt he got enough power out of using a rifle. he always wanted to be in command of the big guns of the fleet. Ivan loved the loud roar of the cannons in battle. when outside the battlefield and training he wasn't as serious all the time and was even known to tell a few jokes.

"its nice to meet you Ivan" Masako says shaking his hand "but i don't think i'll be of any help to you and your team" she says as her once neutral face turned to a frown.

"we won't know until you try Masako" Ivan says as he opens the door. "but i am not here to force you to come. i can only take you to Florida if you chose to go. i'll give you a few minutes to think it over. when your ready please meet me outside" Ivan finishes as he walks out and shuts the door behind him.

"mom. what should i do" Masako says so confused with what to decide.

"all i know is that when i was in the air force i learned how to use my powers and help many people." Yoshika smiles to her daughter and stands from her chair "i known you will make the right choice" she says walking into the back of the clinic

Masako stood by the bed and just thought to herself what to do. it was such a hard decision that came up so quickly. she knew she had to make a choice.

Ivan adjusted the mirror to his jeep as he waited outside the Miyafuji clinic. he leaned against the car waiting for a response from Masako.

"i hope she chooses to come along. i would hate to report back to base to let them know that i failed this early" Ivan looks at the door for a minute than gets into the jeep.

"i guess shes not coming" he says as he starts the car. before he shifts the gears he hears the door slam as he turns and sees Masako standing by the car with a suitcase in her hand.

"were you going to leave without me" Masako says as she throws the Suitcase in the back and walks to the other side of the jeep.

"i didn't think you were going to come." Ivan said as he opened the door for her.

"i know that what i am doing will be dangerous but i am fine with that. my philosophy is to always help people who are in need. and like you said Ivan people are going to need me" she said giving Ivan a smile.

"i'm glad you chose to come. you will be a great help." Ivan says as he returns the smile.

...

**Orussia **

the snow started to pick up at the base of the mountain as the three walk out towards the jeep that was modified so it could drive safely on the slippery terrain. Richard closes the large metal storm door to the base and makes sure it's locked in place. he than starts after the two girls as he tries to keep his footing on the icy ground. As Antonia walked behind Tatyana she turned around to see if Richard was still following behind them. she noticed that Richard was having trouble as he lost his footing and took a knee as he tried not to fall.

'i don't even know why I am going to help him' Antonia thinks to herself as she puts down her case and turns around to help him.'I get so nervous around him. more nervous than usual for some reason'

"Tatyana go to the car. im gonna help flying officer moon." she says with a sigh

"alright Antonia i'll bring your suitcase to the jeep for you." Tatyana than picks up her sisters case and walks out to the truck

"here let me help you" Antonia says as she walks over to Richard and puts her hand out to help him. Richard takes it as he tries to stand up. when he stands up and tries to take another steep on the ice towards Antonia his foot slips between her legs as he fell on his back. still holding Richards hand Antonia was pulled down on top of him.

"ahh i'm sorry" Richard says looking up at her. Antonia pushes up on her hands on top of him as she looks down at him as the rest of her body lay on top of him. when she looked at him she noticed his dark blue eyes past his jet black hair.

"oh its fine. don't worry about it" Antonia said calmly with a smile as she looked deep into his eyes. the two lay there for a short time until Antonia finally realized what was going on.

Richard looked up as Antonia's face started to turn red as she jumped off of him and ran for the truck.

"wait! Antonia whats wrong" Richard says as he jumps up to follow her but quickly slips back to the ground. Richard gets to the car and climbs inside.

"your not very fast on the ice Officer Moon" Tatyana said from the back seat

"yeah how do you two move so well on the ice"

"we have been living in Orussia all our lives. you get used to walking on the ice." Tatyana says with a smile as she sits back and buckles herself up.

Richard looks to the passenger seat to see Antonia holding her legs in her arms and putting her face into her knees. she just sat their with her face red as she looked at the ground. Richard didn't know much about girls but he knew she probably didn't want to talk now.

'it was so strange' Antonia thought to herself 'i wasn't nervous around him for a few seconds. what was that emotion i felt. do i like him like that' she looks over at Richard as he drives the car through the snow and he returns her glance with a warm smile. Antonia quickly looked away as her cheeks turned back to a bright red

...

**Liberion**

the loud horn of a train can be heard for miles as the conductor calls for the passengers to board the train. among the crowd of people Maxine walks toward train with a duffle bag thrown over her shoulder.

"well Liberion is much more crowded than Karlsland" she says to herself as she waits on line to board the was getting on the back of the train because it was less crowded and she knew she would find a seat. a man checks her passport and than lets her aboard the train. she takes her seat in the long car and places the bag next to her. looking around the car there are a lot of strange people around her. she sits back and pulls her tape recorder out of her bag. placing a tape in it and puts the headphones on her head. she hits the play button and the Rolling Stones Jumpin' Jack Flash starts to play. the loud guitar and singing blocks out the sound of talking and the trains whistle. Maxine leans back closing her eyes as she sings the song silently to herself.

Maxine than feels a tap on her shoulder as she looks to the side. she sees a tall boy with dark hair wearing a Liberion Navy uniform. the boys lips move but Maxine couldn't hear what he was saying. she takes the big headphones off her ears.

"i'm sorry what was that" Maxine asked the boy

"I was asking if my friend and I could sit with you. there aren't any other seats"

Maxine looks next to the boy to see a Girl with long black hair wearing a Fuso Air Force Jacket but her pants are from a Liberion Navy uniform. the boy must have lent them to her.

'i wonder why she wouldn't have her own pants at her base. is she a witch also.' Maxine thought to herself as she moves the bag.

"yeah it's fine you can sit here" Maxine said as she places the bag on the ground and the two sit down next to her.

"I'm Nick" he says giving her a handshake "and this is Shina" he says as Shina waves to Maxine.

"nice to meet you. i'm Maxine" she said as she stopped the tape from playing and rewound it.

"that's a strange device you have there" Nick said looking at her recorder "do you use that to listen to music"

"oh yes i love music."Maxine responded "My favorite band is the Rolling Stones. they just sound so great"

"I don't follow the Rolling stones Much" Nick said as Maxine thought he was crazy. "i do know allot of Beatles songs though"

"oh yes i like the Beatles too" Shina chimed in "there songs are so smooth and peaceful. my favorite song of theirs has to be Penny Lane"

"that is a great song. its so fun to listen to" Nick said with a smile to Shina.

"Here listen to this. its very good" Maxine said handing the headphones to them. Nick extends them so that it would stretch over both him and Shina's ears. the two put their faces close together as Shina blushes being so close to Nick. Maxine hits the play button and She's a Rainbow starts to come through. the upbeat piano and singing was fun to listen to.

"Did you like it" Maxine asked

"its a good song. i liked it" Shina said

"thanks for sharing that with us" Nick said as he gave back the headphones and giving her a smile.

the three continued to talk about music as the time began to pass. Shina was having a great time with the two as they laughed about funny stories. soon Shina felt something poke into her back from the isle as she turned to see that everyone around her had their hand in the air and a man was pointing a gun to her chest.

"please stay seated everyone. we don't want anyone to get hurt over this." the man said as he started to walk to the front of the car. "we are now excepting donations. we wan't everyone to dig really deep" he joked as he went to the first line and pulled a bag from his pocket and placed the gun to their head.

"Shina do you have any weapons on you" Nick asked as he pulled is M1911 from his side.

"yeah. whats the plan" Shina says pulling her pistol from her holster.

"i'll shoot his arm effectively disarming him. you aim for his legs."Nick explains his plan

"alright. lets do this" Shina says loading her gun.

"good. Maxine you stay he..." he started but when he turned around Maxine was gone and the window was open.

"nick we can worry about her later" Shina says as she pulls Nick over.

the two stand up and aim their guns at the man as he turns not expecting to see armed soldiers on the train.

"oh god"he says pulling his revolver up to fire at the two but Nick was faster and shot his right shoulder. the man dropped his gun as Shina shot him in the left leg dropping him to the ground.

"good shot" Shina says to Nick.

"you to" he responded "alright! everyone stay down and don't leave this car. we don't know how many other robbers are on the train." Nick told the passengers as he picked up the robbers gun and removed the bullets than checked the man for any other weapons.

"come on Nick they can take him from here. lets check the other cars" Shina says opening the door to the other car as they move forward on the train.

...

Maxine held on to the side of the train as she tries to pull herself up to the roof. she knew it would be safer to help the passengers if she attacked from above.

as Maxine starts to pull herself up on top of the car the train takes a quick turn as she starts to lose her grip. her fingers slip down the side as she knows she cant get her grip.

"AHHHHHH!" Maxine screams as she loses her grip and falls from the train.

before she knew it she felt an arm grab her as she hit the side of the train instead of falling on the ground and potential being run over. as she is lifted back up onto the top of the train car she can't believe what happened and how lucky she was that there was someone on the top of the train. after catching her breath she looked up to see that a boy had caught her. she looked up to see he had blue eyes and black was wearing a Britannian air force jacket and there were two other girls behind him from the air force. one from Orussia and the other from Suemus.

"hay are you alright" the boy said as he knelt down next to her

"yeah we almost lost you" said the girl with the Orussian air force jacket and silver hair. the other girl just knelt by her without saying anything.

"i'm fine thanks. are you on the roof because of the robbers" Maxine asked the three.

"no. we couldn't get any tickets because the train was booked." The Orussian girl responded "our moms told us this is how they traveled back in the air force"

"wait what was that about robbers" the boy asked

"some gang has taken over the train" Maxine said

"then we need to do something" the boy said as he started to think of a plan.

"wait. you saved me and i never got your name" Maxine said to the boy blushing as the Suemus girl clearly sees something going on.

"oh" the boy says scratching the back of his head "my name is Richard Moon "

"well i'm very lucky to meet you" she says extending a hand to shake. as she dose that the Suemus girl moves in between the two and takes Maxine's hand and quickly shakes it.

"hi my name is Antonia Litvyak" She says hastily and abruptly. this confuses Richard as he knew Antonia was shy but now she was shaking hands with Maxine.

"hi i'm Tatyana" said the Orussian girl as she waves to Maxine "its nice to meet you"

Antonia walks over to Richard with a huff of anger as she stares at Maxine.

"well Antonia its good to see your opening up to new people" Richard says as her face turns from rage to red and embarrassed.

"i'm- i'm n-n-not opening up. i'm j-just mad" she says to his face

"what are you mad about" he says worried about his friend.

Antonia covered her mouth as her face turned to a deeper red. she did not mean to say that last part.

"n-n-no! Just forget it!" she said as she turned away from him and crossed her arm.

'why did i do that. i just felt so protective when she started to act that way towards Richard. but there is nothing going on between us. is there? He is so different. I don't know yet. i need more time. but if i wait to long i could lose him.' Antonia thought to herself as she watched the countryside roll by on top of the train.

"hay Antonia" Richard said as she turned around still a bit red

"y-yeah Richard" she stumbled with her words still in her thought about if she liked him. when she looked at him she began to get a different feeling than the other times she saw him. she felt more of an attraction now. it made her feel weird when she saw him. she still needed some time to really know what she felt.

"we need to find out a way to take back the train" Richard said as they all sat on top of the train and started to plan how they would pull this off.

Antonia was only half paying attention to the plan as she looked over at Richard with loving eyes as he talked.

'I wish I knew what i felt. I wish i could tell him how i feel. he is so nice to me. have i fallen for the guy i just met'


	5. in love but they don't even know

**Liberion**

the rattle of the wheels on the tracks fill the air as Nick and Shina move to the front of the next cart. they were keeping a close eye out in case of any other robbers that may try to jump them but the coast seemed clear. they make their way to the next door as both of them press against the wall and make sure their guns are ready. Nick looks through the window to the other cart and sees two robbers walking down the line as they take the belongings of the passengers.

"this is not good" Nick remarks as he removes the clip from his gun and puts in a fresh one.

"how many are in there" Shina asks him.

"there are two of them. lightly armed from what i can see but we can't risk anyone getting hurt if we try to rush in." Nick says to the girl as a worried look comes on her face.

"I think i have a good plan" Shina says as a smile returns to her face.

the men walking up and down the isle meet in the middle as one by one the people on the train empty their pockets into the bags. as the one man gets to the other end of the car he stops at the door and looks out the window to make sure no one is attempting to escape on the other carts. as he presses his face against the glass on the door he suddenly sees Shina on the other side. the door swings open throwing him to the ground as Nick and Shina leap into the car. the other man draws his gun and aims down the sights at Shina clearly attempting to kill her. Nick quickly shoots the man in the side as he rushes through the door and tackles Shina to the ground. the other man fires his gun as he falls to the ground in pain and faints from his injury. the bullet hits above Nick and Shina where Shina was just standing.

"that was an awful plan" Nick says on top of Shina as he looks up to see the bullet hole in the wall.

Shina lays under him as her face turns bright red seeing what a heroic thing Nick did. if he hadn't she would have taken that bullet to the head.

"I don't think it was that bad" Shina says from under him bashfully as she looks away trying not to make eye contact.

"are you alright?" Nick asked thinking there was something strange going on with Shina seeing that her cheeks had turned red.

"I'm fine thanks to you Nick" she said with a cute smile as Nicks face began to turn red.

"hay love birds" said the conductor who was tied up in the corner "you wan't to stop flirting and maybe help us out"

they both were very embarrassed by this comment as Nick got up and helped Shina to her feet. the two searched the bandits and untied the conductor.

"thanks" the older man said as he rubbed his arm. clearly they had tied him up tight because you could see the rope burns on his wrists.

"can you tell us whats going on" Nick asked the conductor

"it was all just a normal day until this big truck drove along side the train" the conductor started"men jumped on to the carts and started brandishing weapons. the next thing i knew i was tied up. than you two came along. that's all i know"

"do you have an idea of how many men are on the train" Shina asked

"well there was one in the back that jumped on first. than the two here. i think i saw another one get aboard a cart farther up the line and than three took the main engine and the first class cart." the conductor said as he pulled his glasses out of his pocket and started to rub them with a cloth.

"we have work to do than Nick" she said as she started to walk to the front of the cart" lets get moving" Shina said as she tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. "its locked" she said as she felt so defeated.

"yeah i should have mentioned that they took my key and locked the doors so no one would escape. than they threw it out the window." the conductor said as he put on his glasses.

"i guess there isn't any other way to go but up." Nick remarked looking out the side window.

...

a man with a mask on walks to the front of the cart and locks the door. he than throws the key out the window. the men and women all sit scared not knowing what is going to happen to them. the man turns around and pulls a shotgun out from beneath his coat as he points it to the passengers.

"ladies and gentlemen. please remove all you personal belongings and place it in the bag. if anyone tries anything funny they lose their head. understood." the man says as he gives one of the passengers a bag. the man watches as the people pass the bag around and put rings and necklaces into it along with the money in their pockets. he notices that one man doesn't put anything in as he slowly walks over to him.

"did you think i wouldn't see that you didn't empty your pockets. what do you take me for an amateur." he shouts at the man pointing the gun at the other man

"i don't have anything to give a swear. i spent all my money on this train ticket" the thin man sitting in the seat says as he tries to get away from the gun

"you must have something i can make a buck off of. or do you wan't me to fill you with holes." the masked man remarked with a chuckle as he tapped the barrel of the gun to the mans chest.

before anything else could happen though a knock came to the side window of the train car. the masked man turns around confused to what could have made the noise. he walks over and opens the window to look out. right as he does that a pair of legs come flying through bashing him in the face. all he saw was the souls of two boots as his vision is quickly taken away from him and replaced with a horrible pain. he stumbles backwards dropping his gun as he reaches to clench his face and nose that was now bleeding. he stumbles back and hits the other window with his back as he leans against it trying to process what just happened. as he covers his face he feels two hands grab the back of his coat and pull him into the air. the man is yanked threw the window and thrown from the train as he hits the ground on his back with a loud thud and rolls along the ground.

"nice job Antonia" Richard says as he and Maxine drop through the window.

"yeah nice kick" Maxine said as she gives Antonia a thumbs up. Antonia blushes as she and Tatyana drop down on the other side of the car.

"T-thanks Richard. Y-you did well to" Antonia said as she holds her hands behind her back.

"i probably couldn't have pulled that guy out if Maxine wasn't here" Richard laughs

"I guess. whatever" Antonia said as she rolls her eyes

"yeah. i inherited my strength from my mom" Maxine said with a smile

"we should probably keep moving" Tatyana insisted as she tried to open the door. "ahhh its locked" Tatyana said with a sad tone "back to the roof"

Maxine pulled herself up the side first and Tatyana went to follow her but couldn't pull herself out the window.

"her Tatyana let me help you" Antonia said as she helped her younger sister out the window and to the top of the train. Antonia wen't to follow but was also having trouble getting her boot up onto the window. as she kept trying he felt someone grab onto her hips from behind and give her a boost up. she lets out a yelp as she looks down to see Richard was holding her up with one hand on the bottom of her boot and the other hand on her bottom.

"you look like you could use some help" Richard says with a smile as she waits for her to push herself up on top of the car. she just waits there as her face turns red and she looks down on him.

"R-R-Richard! why are you touching me there" she shouts as she pushes away from him and pulls herself up on top of the car very in a flash. when she gets on top she has to catch her breath and pull together what went on.

'he was touching my butt. as if it was nothing. why would he do something like that so carelessly! did he mean to do that or was it an accident. did he wan't to know how it felt' she thinks to herself sitting on top of the car. her face turns a darker red every time she reminds herself of it. she watches as Richard gets on top of the car and sits down next to her. her face was very red as she looked at him.

"are you alright Antonia. I'm worried about you" Richard says as he puts his hand on her shoulder. this causes Antonia to become very hot inside as she didn't know how to respond. she just sat there and looked at him.

'should i say something. he clearly cares about me. maybe i should act more relaxed around him. I should say something so I don't lose him' she thinks to herself as she starts to plan what to say next.

"Di-did you like what you felt" Antonia asked as she tries to make friendly conversation but soon turns back to her red face and covers her mouth. she wishes she could take that back as she looks over at Richard who's face had also turned very red.

'oh! why would i say that. i'm so stupid. now hes going to think i'm some freak' Antonia thought to herself thinking she was going to cry. she didn't even wan't to hear an answer from Richard as she watched him not breaking eye contact. it was becoming very weird.

"uh i don't really know how to respond to that" Richard started. his face still very red. " um. It felt good. I think it felt good" Richard says as Antonia's face turns totally red.

'it felt good to him. i probably shouldn't speak anymore' she thought

"um thanks." Antonia said as she stood up "we still have work to do. we can talk more latter" She said walking over to the edge of the car with Tatyana.

'idiot. you should have apologized. now he thinks your weird' Antonia thought to herself as she walked over to Tatyana.

"well at lest shes opening up a little more. i guess she is starting to get comfortable around me" Richard says to himself as she watches her walk away. his eyes start to drift down towards her butt as he remembered what had gone on.

"what are you looking at" Richard heard from behind him as his face turned red and he sprung around. Maxine had sat down next to him when he wasn't looking.

"Maxine I was.. uh just worried about Antonia" Richard tries to push out a reason for drooling over Antonia like that.

"Oh yeah yeah. I saw what you were looking at" she said giving Richard a wink causing him to be even more embarrassed "you like her. that's a look i would even say would relate to love" Maxine says to Richard

"I know. I actually really do like her. but she is so shy around new people. she probably doesn't like me" Richard said

'I don't think so. she seemed pretty defensive when i was around you' Maxine thought to herself

"well I don't know much about relationships but you two look cute together" Maxine says standing up and stretches her arms above her head. "what were you two talking about" Maxine asked as Richard stood up next to her.

"well uh that's a bit rough to talk about" Richard said with a smile looking over to Antonia who was biting her nails as she watched the two talk than turned back around when he looked her way. Maxine watched as Richard looked Antonia over once again as he stayed deep in his own thoughts. his eyes once again looking down on her lower back.

"or should you say soft subject" Maxine joked snapping Richard back as his face turned red and he sprung around at her.

"you know i'm starting to regret catching you." Richard said to Maxine as she just laughed at him.

"Hay Maxine!" the group heard down on the other side of the train as two people came towards them on the roof of the train.

"Oh! Nick! Shina! you two are alright!" Maxine shouted to the pair.

"who are they" Tatyana asked as the two jumped over onto their car.

"Maxine! we were worried about you" Shina said as she than looked over to the other three.

"oh" Maxine said as she realized the two groups hadn't been introduced."This is Richard, Antonia, and Tatyana" Maxine said pointing to the small group she had met.

"nice to meet you i'm Shina and this is Nick. how has it been going so far" Shina asked

"we managed to take out one of the robbers in the cart were standing on" Maxine replied

"well then that leaves the three in first class" Nick says "you three do you have weapons"

"yeah" Richard replied as they pulled out their side arms.

"good your going to need them" Shina said as she pulls out her own and check the clip. "lets get moving" She commanded as the team moved towards the front of the train.

...

A man with a mask holds the bag of money from the passengers in the first class car.

"all this loot! you have all made me and my friends very happy! but just so you can't stop us from escaping i think i will take one more thing" the man says as he grabs a young girl from her chair and puts his gun to her head. "now if anyone tries anything stupid i will be forced! To Shoot! this Girl!" he screams as the girl starts to cry and struggle as the man yanks her back in.

"you know there are few people who i truly don't like" the man heard from behind him as he turned around and pointed the gun away from the girl and towards whoever was there. an arm pulls his wrist down and removes the gun as he is thrown back by Richard. he stumbles back as Tatyana grabs the girl from the man and moves her far away. the man than hits another person but it felt like he hit a brick wall. Maxine's arms wrapped around the man as they glowed blue with magic. she clenches him tightly and flips him over her and onto his head. the man lay there still conscious as he is baffled by the girl half his size standing over him.

"oh he's still awake" Maxine said as she kicked him in the head Knocking him out this time

"Nice job. now lets head to the front and get the others" Tatyana said as the three climb back up on top of the train. they all regroup on top of the train and make there way to the locomotive.

"it will be to cramped if we all try to take it at once. let Shina and I go in first than you four come as back up." Nick said loading his gun as he gets ready to take the train."are you ready" Nick asked Shina as they got ready to jump down.

"yeah" she responded holding up her gun.

the two jumped down into the trains large cockpit as the two robbers keeping the train going turned around shocked to see them. they raise their guns to fire as Nick and Shina quickly drop to their knees and open fire. the men get hit in the knees and drop their guns as they fall to the ground. one man is knocked out by the pain as the other falls and clenches his knee.

"lets get them tied up and get the conductors back up here" nick says as he moves the unconscious man against the wall.

"well look on the bright side Nick. this trip would have been boring if it hadn't been for them" Shina says giving nick a warm smile

"im just glad no one got hurt" Nick responded as he hand cuffs the criminal.

the train continues on as it suddenly takes a sharp turn makes Nick fall against the wall of the cockpit and kind of slants down as he tries to get his footing. Shina also looses her balance and starts to stumble towards him. she tries to catch her footing as she walks down and trips towards Nick. as she falls Nick tries to catch her as his arms wrap around her. her face comes in close to his as she plants her lips onto his. the two had their eyes closed as they shared an accidental kiss.

Shina opens her eyes as she realized what had just happened. Nick opened his eyes to as both of their cheeks turned red. their lips parted as Shina pushed herself up off the wall. Nick just leaned against the wall with Shina's arms on either side of him. his arms still on her sides.

"uh. i'm sorry" Shina said looking at the ground her cheeks very red.

"no. its fine" Nick said softly looking up at her.

"oh i see how it is" the two heard as they looked to their side to see the other four had come down and were standing on the other side of the car. "this is why you insisted on going in first" Maxine joked

"no its not like that" Shina said as she turned and looked down to see Nicks hands still around her. Nick pulled his hands back as he also stood up next to her.

"she just tripped" Nick said quickly. the group left the cockpit to get the conductor and other staff.

as they moved from car to car Shina looked over at Nick with wonder.

'he likes me! I can tell just from the way he said that to me. he said it was fine we if it was an accident. I should say something to him' Shina thinks to herself as she walks next to him.

"Shina about what happened over there" Nick started. Shina looked around to see that the others had gone ahead and they were alone again.

"yeah it was just an accident" Shina said abruptly.

'no. why would i say that i should tell him how i feel' Shina thought to herself

"oh. alright. um that. that's good to know" nick said as he lowered his head a bit and walked through the door.

Shina just stood there alone in the car. she closed her eyes and held her hands over her heart.

"damn. i could have said anything else to keep him with me. now i never know when i will have another chance to tell him how i feel." Shina said as a tear rolled down from her eye.

on the other side of the door Nick leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"why did i just walk out." he said as he pounded his fist against the wall. "i should have said something different. i should have told her how i feel about her. when will i get another chance."


	6. never break a promise

**Florida-Liberion **

the loud screech of metal fills the air as the train pulls into the station. a large group of police officers wait for the train to come to a complete stop than board it quickly. a few minutes later they all come back out with the robbers in hand cuffs. they are rough with the men as they push them through the door and into the back of their cars. The officers are followed by the passengers aboard the train as they get off at their stop. among the crowd the pilots and their escorts move towards the outside of the station. as they walked past the people involved in the robbery they heard the thanks of passengers who recognized their faces. as they got to the outside of the train station they saw a military escort waiting for them. there were trucks and jeeps in a line as a man waited with a clip board.

"well it was fun but this is my ride" Maxine said as she extended her hand to the group.

"yeah what a day" Nick said as he shook her hand

"maybe you can stop by at the base some time" Shina said as she also shook Maxine's hand

"wait" Richard said to Shina"your also going to the base in this town"

the man with the clip board walked over to the group and looked at the photos on the papers he had.

"oh" he said looking back up at the group "you have already meet. that's good to know. lets get going"

the groups split into the two trucks as Maxine, Nick, and Shina got into the back of the vehicle. Richard, Tatyana, and Antonia climbed into the back of the other truck as the convoy moved out on its way to the base. out the back of the truck they could see the buildings roll by in the small town. people walked to there place of work or to pick up groceries at the market. the civilians would look over to the trucks wondering who was in them. Shina looked over to Maxine who was sitting across from her and Nick.

"I had no idea you were part of the military" Shina said with a smile

"yeah i was just called not long ago. it was very sudden. I should have known that we would all probably going to the same place" Maxine said thinking she should have known better.

"so why were you called in so suddenly" Nick asked wanting to know more about the girl they just met

"Well my mom was in the air force before me so they think i know how to do everything she can do."

"who was your mother" Shina asked as she had heard many stories from her mother about many different witches and soldiers she had met in her time.

"oh yeah i never did tell you my full name. I'm Maxine Barkhorn. my mothers name was Gertrude Barkhorn"

"well that clears everything up" Shina said with a big smile

"what do you mean" Nick asked still very confused

"Gertrude Barkhorn was part of my mothers wing in the neuroi war. i'm Shina Sakamoto"

Maxine's face lit up as the two began to share stories they had heard about each others mothers. Nick was able to fill in the blanks as he also listened to the stories sharing a few laughs along the way.

"alright i think i understand whats going on" Nick said "but what do the other three have to do with this." Nick asked

"well i guess we will have to wait and ask them"

...

**Fuso**

outside a small restaurant a jeep is parked. the sun has set over the land as all that is left is a small amount of light that creeps over the horizon. inside the building a pair sit at a bar as they wait for their dinner to arrive. from behind you can see that Ivan is much taller than Masako. as a woman walks over to the two with two bowls in her hands the pair thank the girl as she places the bowls down in front of them. the bowls are filled with noodles and vegetables.

"looks good. right Ivan" Masako says looking over to the boy.

"yeah. it looks very good" Ivan responded as he smiled to Masako as he began to eat his food.

"hay Ivan i have been wondering. since we are here and have time to talk we should get to know each other better." Masako said

"alright" Ivan said confused about this sudden questioning

"so first of lets start with our ages. i'm 15. how old are you"

"i'm 17" Ivan said as he picks up a glass of water and takes a sip.

"well that didn't start any conversations i guess. alright i got one. i'm an only child. do you have any siblings" Masako asked as a bright look came up on her face

Ivan was quiet for a few seconds as he looked down at the table than over to Masako. "next question" he stated

"ahhh your not easy to talk to are you Ivan" Masako asked as a sad look replaced her smile

"not when i'm on duty" he said as he finished his water "once were done here we should find a place to stay the night. tomorrow we are flying straight to Florida"

"alright" Masako said with a sigh. Ivan looked over at her as she looked down at her bowl of noodles and pushed it around with her fork. Ivan finally let out a sigh.

"a brother" he said

"what was that" Masako asked looking over at Ivan

"I had a brother" Ivan said with a small smile "hes uh. not with us anymore." he said quietly as he looked down and the smile wen't away.

"oh" Masako said now sad that she had brought that up "i'm sorry about that. i shouldn't have asked"

"it's not like you knew. i'm just trying to make conversation"

the two sat in silence for a few minutes as they finished their meal.

"well lets get going" Ivan said as he payed for the meal and stood up from the bar.

"so where are we going now" Masako asked as she got off the stool and followed him out the door

"you don't have to worry about that. ill handle it" Ivan said with a smile as he got into the jeep.

"Ivan" Masako said as she buckled her seat belt

"yes Masako" Ivan said as he started the car

"I'm sorry about bringing up your brother. i feel bad that i made you think of it again. and now i'm doing it again!" Masako said as she berried her face into her hands

"hay Masako" Ivan said as he held her on the shoulder. Masako looked up at him from her hands. "its really fine. I don't hold any hard feelings against you for it" Ivan said with a warming smile as Masako looks at him in a whole different way.

Masako was starting to get a strange connection with Ivan. it was like he was an older brother to her. the way he tries to make her feel better about what she said. it's like he is opening up to her.

...

**Liberion**

men walk around the bridge of a large carrier ship as they preform system checks and radio calls. the naval troops move throughout the large room as they make sure everything is up to code and working. a tall officer walks through the crowd of men to the main terminal as he looks over the workers.

"Commander we are almost finished with the preparations. the ship will be able to launch once the witches arrive." said a short thin boy on a white navy uniform

"good. what is the status of our fleet admiral" asked the tall man to the boy

"he should be on his way up here right now. the new JFW wing commander will also be arriving on board shortly." the boy said looking over his notes throughout the many papers he had

"hmmm. i'm not to sure about this. were leaving this ship in the command of a 19 year old. even if he is a fleet admiral." the tall man says with a tense voice. clearly he did not have any confidence in the new fleet admiral.

"oh here he comes" the boy says as he salutes the boy as he walked up the stairs to the main deck of the bridge.

the black haired boys name is William Halsey. He wore a black Liberion navy uniform with a Naval officers hat. the normal uniform of a fleet admiral. the only difference was the person wearing the uniform. normally a fleet admiral is a much older man in his 60s. it was strange to see a boy of this age that high in rank. Halsey showed great interest in what he did from the start of his studies. at an early age he started his basic training in boot camp along with others who have come far in their life.

"Commander" Halsey said as he solutes the older man.

"it's nice to finally meet you fleet admiral Halsey" the man said returning the gesture. "your taller than in the pictures" the commander said as he turned and looked out the window at the long runway aboard the ship."do you think you have what it takes to command this ship" the commander says turning back to Halsey "these men's lives will be in your hands once i hand it over to you. are you ready"

Halsey takes a deep breath and looks the man straight in the eyes "I'm ready" he said confidently.

"So your the man i will be reporting to" Halsey heard from behind him as he turned to see a tall girl with short blond hair standing behind him. the girl was almost as tall as Halsey if not exactly his height. she wore the uniform of a Karlsland air force commander.

"Wing Commander Julia Hartmann reporting for duty" the girl said as she saluted Halsey. when she realized who he was she turned red with shyness.

"Fleet admiral Halsey. its nice to see you again Commander Hartmann. how long has it been since boot camp." Halsey said smiling to the girl

Julia Hartmann is the daughter of the top shot of the neuroi war Erica Hartmann. Julia has worked her way to her high rank in attempts to overtake her mothers legacy. after hearing so many great stories about her mothers skills in combat but her laziness outside of the battlefield Stephanie believed she could accomplish so much more if she devotes all her time to training. She spends most of her time preforming maintenance on her striker unit and weapons. Her shoot down count is no where near as high as her mothers because there haven't been many opportunities to fight but her rank clearly reflects her skill.

"too long. It's an honor to be aboard such an impressive ship. as of now you are its captain" she asked as she watched the other commander walk off the bridge to leave the ship.

"Yes i now command this ship. it is a nice ship. maybe we can take a walk and get to know the place" Halsey said walking over to the girl.

"you still haven't changed. maybe you should check in with you new staff first." she says with a smile lightly pushing him away "i have to go get prepared for for my new wing to arrive"

"alright. i guess well have to do it another time." Halsey said

"yeah. i would like that" Stephanie said as she smiled and walked to the stairs of the bridge. Halsey watches her as she waves to him as she walks down the stairs to another part of the ship.

"shes a great girl. shes got a lot of skill. i'm glad shes on our side" Halsey remarks as he turns to the men who were still working on the computers."can i get a status report" he asked a boy holding a clip board.

"yes admiral Halsey. we are green on all systems and almost complete fueling up. well be ready for launch in an hour."

"alright" Halsey said as he takes his position at the front of the bridge.

"we also have reports that the new members of our fighter wing will be arriving very soon." the boy said as he returned to his station " you will need to great them and brief them on whats going on"

"alright. i'll go meet with Commander Hartmann in the meeting hall." Halsey said as he fixed his hat and headed for the stairs.

"you would like that wouldn't you" one of the men said under his breath as Halsey walked down the stairs.

"I heard that" Halsey shouted as he walked back up to the top of the stairs "and i am going to love it" he said with a smile as he spins around and walks back down.

...

**Meeting hall**

Halsey walks through the doorway of the large room aboard the ship as he takes a good look around. the room is filled with many tables and chairs all in a line that lead up to a podium at the far end of the room. he notices there are already a few people in the room as he walks down the isle in between the desks as he makes his way to the front of the room. looking to the right he sees a red haired Liberian girl sitting with a boy with brown hair. he than looks up farther in the room to spot a blond haired boy with a girl with brown hair leaning her head on his shoulder. as he passed he saw that the girl was asleep. he wondered how long they had been waiting for the others to arrive.

"Halsey what are you doing now" he heard as his attention is drawn to the front of the room. Hartmann was standing there with her fists on her hips as she watched him walk down to her.

"if i said i wanted to see you again would you believe me" Halsey said as he sat down and pulled up a seat for Hartmann.

"sadly i would" Hartmann said with a sigh as she takes a seat.

"really? well that's only half the reason. I need to brief the new fighter wing before launch. we can't send them off wihtout letting them know what they are getting into. they have already come this far and we've kept them in the dark." Halsey said as he removed some notes from his pocket.

"this is some very serious stuff. we could be getting into a whole other war." Hartmann said as she picked up the cards "do you mind if i look it over" she asked Halsey as he gave her a nod of approval.

"I think our chances of war are pretty high Commander. if it was only one neuroi we wouldn't be sending such a large ship with so many witches."

"yeah you have a point" she said returning his cards to the table. "well i think we have some time until the others arrive"

"did you have something in mind commander" Halsey asked

"you can stop calling me commander. you never addressed me by rank in boot camp" Hartmann said to Halsey as she sat up in her chair. "its just Hartmann"

"alright Hartmann. how 'bout we find a nice quiet place to settle down" Halsey said giving Hartmann a tired look

"now i don't know if your flirting with me or just tired" Hartmann said as her face turned a bit red

"its a little of both. i haven't gotten any sleep and i wouldn't mind laying down with you" he said as Hartmanns face turned very red

"you still trying to get me aren't you Halsey" Harmann said with a laugh "i'll have to think about it"

"i'm not trying to get you. i already had you. i wan't to get back to how we were at boot camp" Halsey said as he remembered their days together in Karlsland. he had transferred there for tougher training where he met Hartmann. originally they were just bunk mates but it became much more over time. they soon fell for each other during the time they spent together. during training they would be professional and try there hardest but by night they spent time together in each others bed. when there training ended it seemed like there love did also as they went there separate ways. now that they are together again it seems there love is returning slowly.

"you cant always act like this. you need to be professional about this mission." Hartmann said

"well they say to give the ship a more relaxed atmosphere for the witches. we should be relaxed" Halsey said as he puts his feet up on the desk.

"i think your taking the relaxed part to seriously" she said as she pushed his feet off the table causing him to tumble back in his chair. Halsey jumps up and picks up the chair as he takes his seat again. Halsey looks around to see that the others were watching them and the brown haired girl had woken up. the two just get back to work.

"that wasn't funny" Halsey said to Hartmann

"i thought it was" she said to Halsey with a smile

"you have to admit we had some good times back at boot camp" Halsey whispers to Hartmann

"who says it had to end" Hartmann said with a sad face "when you left i was so angry. why didn't you stay with me."

"i had a commitment to my country. i wish i could have Hartmann you know i would have stayed" Halsey said as he took her had

"what do you think there talking about" Alice asked Aaron as they watched what they were doing.

"i have no idea" Aaron responded

"but as you can see i still have feelings for you Stephanie... do you still fell the same way about me?" Halsey asked her

"don't call me that" Hartmann said as she blushed "I am a professional soldier now. I put allot of that stuff behind me"

"we were professionals during training. but when we weren't training we were having the time of our lives." Halsey said as he looked over to the others than the two walked out into the hall.

Hartmann sighs."I admit that i still have strong feelings towards you. but i'm afraid you will leave me again" Hartmann said as a tear starts to form in her eye

"listen to me Hartmann" Halsey said as he put one hand on her cheek and the other on her side. he moves in as he puts his lips on hers as they share in a passionate kiss. Hartmann closes her eyes and puts her hand on Halseys shoulders as the kiss lasts for many seconds. as Halsey separates from Hartmann he comes in again close to her ear and whispers "i promise i will not leave you"

as he says this Hartmann begins to cry into Halsey's shoulder as she hugs him and he wraps his arms around her.

"Halsey. I have been waiting so long to hear you say that to me" she says as the two stand in the empty hall. Halsey closes his eyes and embraces Hartmann in his arms as he leans his head onto her.


	7. Forward onto the Horizons Edge

**Liberion**

the green trucks drive near the coast on their way to the port. the light reflects off of the ocean as the sun hangs over them in the sky. the beach stretches for miles in both directions. as the trucks approach the naval base they stop at the gate. a guard walks over to the side of the first truck as a hand extends through the window and gives the man papers. he looks them over than signals another man to open the gate. the trucks start to move again as they head past the buildings and hangers on their way to the docks. they pass many large battleships that were being loaded with crates and ammunition. the trucks stop for the last time by a large aircraft carrier. the man in the front seat gets out and informs the trucks passengers that they are at their destination.

Maxine drops out of the back of the truck and looks up to see the huge ship. it was the largest carrier she had ever seen. Maxine looked straight up at it as it cast a long shadow over them and the other battleships. it reached up high into the sky and stretched on down past the end of the dock. the ship had two runways for launching jets and a large bride with three floors. throughout the ship were many rooms that ranged from cabins for the crew to hangers for the striker units. on the runway there were jets lined up on the edge for the small amount of non witch pilots who had arrived a few day earlier. there were an assortment of planes from Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighters to Convair B-58 Hustlers. on one side of the ship were three platforms mounted on the side. two of them had a Hughes OH-6 Cayuse helicopter on them and the third had a Mil Mi-8 Hip parked on it. the hip was the only non Liberion aircraft aboard the ship other than the foreign jet striker models stored under deck.

"wow! it's so huge" Maxine said awestruck as she looked up at the huge ship.

"yes it's an impressive super carrier. it's the biggest ship built by the Liberion Navy" a man in a liberion navy uniform said as he walked down a ramp that came off the side of the ship and onto the dock."I have been sent down here to take you to the meeting hall. I am told everything will be explained to you there." the boy said as he steeped to the side of the ramp and waited for them to board the ship.

"well i guess this is where we go our separate ways" Nick said to a smile to Shina as he scratches his head and forces a smile.

"oh yeah. you were only told to escort me to Florida i guess your right." Shina said with a in a sad voice as she believed she was going to lose Nick.

"W-wait. Richard your leaving" Antonia said to Richard as she thought she was going to break down.

"oh. i guess so" Richard said not sure what to think "I really wish i didn't have to go Antonia"

"what" Antonia said as her face turned red. 'dose he not wan't to leave me or dose he not want to leave us' Antonia thought to herself trying to figure him out

"you don't have to go" the man standing next to the ramp said

"what" Antonia said again turning to the man this time

"yeah. i was sent down here to collect all of you. not just the witches." the man said as he watched the girls expressions light up when they learned that they wouldn't lose their escorts.

"I was actually scared there for a minute" Richard said to Antonia

"really. you were scared of leaving" Antonia said as she looks into Richards eyes

"yeah. i wouldn't be able to survive without you and Tatyana" Richard remarks with a laugh as that statement hits Antonia like a ton of bricks

'ahhhhhh! i thought he was only talking about me! im such an idiot.' Antonia thinks to herself as grabs her head

"are you alright Antoina" Tatyana asked her sister as they walk over to the ramp.

"yeah i'm fine. just a headache" she says to her younger sister.

the group walks into the ship and follow the man down the long hall ways. on either side of the metal hall there are large doors with huge locks on them. some of them lead outside of the ship and onto the side platforms and others lead deeper into the ship. as they walk over to one of the doors the man grabs the lock and turns it hard. the thick door creaks open as the group walks through and into the meeting hall. they look over the large meeting room and see that there were already four others in there.

"please take a seat. our fleet admiral and wing commander will be here soon to brief you all." the man said as he walked out of the room

the group walked down the isle and took their seats among the others at the desks. Maxine pulls back a seat next to the royal marine and the Britannian girl. the Britannian girl had fallen asleep on the boys shoulder once again as the marine stares at the front of the room deep in thought.

"hi do you mind if i sit here" she asked the royal marine snapping him out of his trance.

"oh yeah its fine" he says as Maxine took her seat and extended her hand to the boy.

"I'm Maxine Barkhorn" she said as the boy shakes her hand.

"nice to meet you. i'm sergeant Aaron Thompson and this is Alice Bishop" he said pointing over to the girl on his shoulder.

"oh its nice to meet you two. you look like a nice couple" Maxine says with a smile

"what. oh no. were not a couple. i have only known her for a few days" Aaron said as his face turned red. "she was just tired from the long flight in. we arrived very early this morning. I mean i wouldn't mind... you know... she is a really cute girl" Aaron said looking over to Alice who was nestled into his side.

"you don't have to explain it to me" Maxine said with a wink "you just need more time. i get it"

Aaron's face turns very red as he is clearly embarrassed by the girl he just met. Maxine just smiles to the boy seeing what she had done.

Antonia and Richard follow Tatyana to the seats behind Aaron and Alice. they take their seat behind the three and look around the room. it was very large and could clearly hold more people than were already in there. they wondered how long it would take the fleet admiral to arrive and tell them why they are there.

"it's very cold here" Tatyana states as she buttons her jacket up. even if they were in Florida at the end of the summer aboard the ship the air is very cold. the metal interior is chilled to the touch and makes it much cooler on the water. Tatyana and Antonia are used to the cold. they have spent all their lives in Orussia where the winters are long and cold. this resistance to the cold has been built up over the years to the point where the cold didn't really phase them. it could be the strange environment or the sudden change from hot to cold but for some reason the cold was really affecting Tatyana.

"are you alright. I have never heard you worry about the cold before." Antonia asked her sister.

"no its fine. i'm probable just overreacting" Tatyana said as she smiled to her sister

"alright. if you say so" Antonia said as she looked back to the front of the room.

on the other side of the isle Nick and Shina take their seats next to the other two in the room. the red haired girl watches Shina closely as she pushes her seat in to get closer to the table.

"hay you look very familiar. i feel like i have seen you before" Michelle said as she looked closely at Shina

"i don't think we have ever meet. i have lived in Fuso my whole life" Shina stated

"would your mother happen to be Mio Sakamoto" Michelle asked

"yes. how did you know" Shina asked as wondering how the girl she just meet knows who she is

"im Michelle Yeager. my mother has told me so many stories about your mother. they were in the same unit."

"you mean Charlotte Yeager was your mother. I have heard allot about her to. your the third person i have met whose mother was part of my mothers unit."

"i don't think its a coincidence. we need an explanation" Michelle said crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

"i'm Shina by the way. and this is Nick." she said as she shook Michelle's hand.

"nice to meet you. oh yeah this is my friend Malcolm." Michelle said as Malcolm reached over and shook Shina's hand.

"i'm her military escort" Malcolm said as he took his seat.

"what. were not friends" Michelle asked as she gave Malcolm a sad face

"no. i mean its not... were friends" Malcolm finally said

Shina giggles as she listens to the two go back and forth. she than hears the door on the other end of the room as a boy and girl enter the room. the girl rubs her eyes with her sleeve as if she had just been crying in the hall before she had walked in. the boy walks up to the podium and pulls out some papers and puts them in front of him.

"good afternoon everyone. i am glad that we were able to find so many of you this quickly. I am Fleet Admiral William Halsey and i'm sure you have many questions to ask." he said as Aaron wakes up Alice before she missed the whole speech. "i'm not going to sugar coat this for you. i'm going to get down straight to it." Halsey said as he pulls a large map down behind him. "there has been a Neuroi threat confirmed in North Vietnam no more than a week ago. there hasn't been a Neuroi threat on earth for twenty years. you are here because your parents had the power to defeat the original Neuroi threat in the 1940's and now you hold that power. for your tour of duty you will be stationed aboard this ship. we will be seating out to Vietnam within the hour where you will fight this new threat. you will not have to worry about training though. in the months between now and our arrival on the coast of Vietnam you will be trained by one of our greatest pilots. when we arrive your mission will be to destroy this threat before it escalates. we know that this is very sudden but we thank you for accepting to follow your escorts and coming down. as for your escorts we have already planed ahead for this. they were all personally picked for their sets of skills in mechanics and piloting to understanding and use of weaponry. they will be staying with you aboard the ship as part of your unit. they may not all be able to be up there with you but they will be here defending the ship while you are fighting this enemy. you never know if the Neuroi will try to attack when you are not here."

when Antonia hears that her face lit up 'so Richard and I will be flying together' she thought to herself as she imagined herself flying in her striker unit over Richard as pilots his jet. the two race over the see at high speeds as the wind breaks around them. Antonia is snapped out of it as Halsey continues his speech.

"i will now be handing the podium over to your new wing commander. i thank you for joining us in our pursuit of freedom from this threat. i personally welcome you aboard the Horizons Edge." Halsey states as he walks down from the podium and Stephanie takes his place.

she clears her throat and begins "thank you Fleet Admiral Halsey. hello. I am Wing Commander Hartmann. I will be in charge of all your missions and training from this moment on. as your wing commander i expect you to show me respect and obey my orders. at the same time i wish to remind you to relax when off duty or not training and take time to calm down. you can't always keep your mind in the field. its unhealthy. i hope to see you give your all in our time together. if you have any questions or just want someone to talk to you have Admiral Halsey and I to ask. you are on the front lines now. you will be protecting the lives and freedom of thousands from your homelands. make them proud." Hartmann concludes as she steps down from the podium and walks over to Halsey.

"that was very good" Halsey said as he walked passed her as she gives him a smile.

"it's starting to get late. Commander Hartmann will show you to your cabins so you can get settled in before dinner. you are dismissed" he said picking up his papers and tossing them into the trash. he than walks over to Hartmann. "not a bad start don't you think" he said as he puts his hand on her thigh."i can't stay for long though. i need to launch the ship. will i see you tonight"

Hartmann smiles and looks down as she blushes. she than picks up the clip board and lightly taps Halsey on the chest with it. "well it seems that we are going to be in the same cabin anyway. i guess i could drop by your bunk." Hartmann says as she walks away. Halsey watches her body as she sways back and forth and leaves the room and the others follow her. Halsey was now alone in the meeting hall.

"what a girl. it's hard to believe how serious she gets during training" he says to himself as he removes his hat and fixes his hair. he than places it back on his head and digs his hands into his pockets as he left the room and made his way to the bridge to launch the ship.

...

Halsey walks up the long stairs to the bridge of the ship and turns to see the crew had taken their places on the control panels. Halsey walks to the center of the room and looks over the men around him as they return his glance. He puts his hands behind his back and looks straight through the front windows over the runway and towards the horizon.

"I need a system update" Halsey said to the pilots at the front of the control room.

"all systems are go. fuel at 100%. all cargo and vehicles are tied down. we are prepared to launch at your command fleet admiral" the pilot said awaiting his orders.

"good. remove harnesses from the docks" Halsey said to the radio man as the boy repeated it into the microphone. outside you could see the men casting off ropes that secured the ship to the dock and cast them to the land. "start the propellers" he than stated as the pilot pulled a lever and the water behind the ship began to splash from the spinning turbines. the large props started to move the ship out towards the ocean as the soldiers on land watched the huge ship make its way out of the port.

"everything is holding well. engines are all green admiral" a boy said receiving an update from the engine room.

"alright lets put her through her paces until we are out of the port. I want a constant watch over all systems. I want this maiden voyage to go well." Halsey said to the pilots

"yes sir" the man said as he keeps an eye on the controls and moves the switches. Halsey moves throughout the room and checks up on the stations.

" alright i believe we are at a safe distance admiral" the co-pilot says looking the charted maps. "all systems are holding safely. i think shes ready. awaiting orders to proceed to destination."

"okay" Halsey says as he walks behind the pilots. "all ahead full to mission destination. our destination is the Gulf of Tonkin. we are to establish air and sea dominance there than attack the settled neuroi threat." Halsey said as he points to the map that was on the table. the Horizons Edge cuts through the water as the sun begins to touch down over the ocean. the sky is filled with orange and red clouds as the sun slowly sets over the horizon.

...

The group follows Hartmann down the long metal hall as they head for their rooms. they head down a flight of stairs and turn down another hall and walk for a short time. they pass by many doors that lead to computer rooms and other crew members quarters. they make their way to a large door midway down the hall as Hartmann begins to turn the handle to the room.

"alright. this is where you will be spending most of your time off duty." she said as she opened the door to a large room. the group walked through to see that it was a lunge like room. the room had couches and chairs for them to relax in when they aren't training. there are bookshelves on one wall that had a large array of litterateur from Sherlock Holmes to history books and Jet Striker manuals. in between the bookshelves was a large wooden radio that had a record player on top. there were records on one of the bookshelves for when someone wanted to listen to music. "this is where you can relax and read when your not training. we have filled the selves with many different books so you should take a look later." Hartmann said as they followed her through another doorway.

this time there was a long table and a large window on the other end of the room that lead to a kitchen. the table had plates set on it and many chairs that went around it. a double door leads out of the room and into the kitchen that was fully stocked with cooking utensils and equipment. a large refrigerator was inside one of the walls and cabinets wrapped around to the other side of the room. there was a large metal table in the center of the room with pots and pans underneath it.

"this is where we will be cooking and eating our meals. our cooking staff is low and all the chefs are assigned to the mess hall so we don't currently have anyone to cook our meals. there are cook books in the other room so we will have to take turns making our meals. dose anyone already have experience cooking" Hartmann asked as a hand raised in the back.

"I cook dinner with my mother allot" Alice said "I could probably cook dinner tonight if i had some help"

"thank you very much" Hartmann said as smiled to Alice and then escorted them out of the room.

they than moved back to the sitting room and through another door that lead to an empty hallway. this hall lead to their quarters and showers. there were no other crew members around because this was their personal quarters. the crew members stayed on the deck below them. the crew had their own large personal lounges and weight rooms down below separate from the witches.

"if you go to the end of this hall you will find a weight and training room if you want to exercise or spar. down that hall are the showers and rest rooms. they are closed showers so you don't have to worry about others seeing you in the buff. just don't forget to bring a towel" Hartmann said with a laugh as some of the faces turned red."down these halls are your cabins. I will now assign you to your rooms." Hartmann said as she looks down at the clip board. she puts her hand on the first door and starts to read off the page. "first. in this room will be Flight Lieutenant Sakamoto and Petty Officer 2nd Class Elway." Hartmann said opening the door for them. "make yourself at home and unpack your belongings" she said to them as they walked into the room and she closed the door behind them.

the room was much more spacious than the regular crew cabins. the cabins given to the crew had eight beds in them. four stacked on top of the other four. the crew had storage below their beds and curtains on the sides for privacy. inside the fighter wings cabin it wasn't as long but there was more room to move around in there. there was one bunk bed against the wall for the two to sleep in. the beds were a bit wider than the crews beds. the beds were inside the walls so they wouldn't move when the ship rocked from the waves. on the other side of the room were shelves that they would use to hold their personal belongings and uniforms. the cabin also had a desk with a papers on it probably for writing letters back to their family's. it was a very nice room compared to regular soldiers rooms.

"so it looks like were bunk mates now" Nick said as he started to unpack his bags.

"yeah" Shina said as she put her belongings into the shelf. "so do you wan't the top bunk" she said to him

"oh. sure that's fine" he said looking up to the bed and pulling back the curtain.

Hartmann moved over the next door and read the next names on the list." over here is Bishop and Thompson." she said and moved to the next door as the two passed her and went into their room. "alright next is Barkhorn."

"just me alone" Barkhorn asked as she picked up her bag.

"your roommate hasn't arrived yet. once they arrive in Florida she will be flown out here. we are still waiting for many other troops to arrive." Hartmann said as Barkhorn entered her room.

Hartmann looked down at the clipboard and pointed to the last two rooms." in here are Yeager and Forest. and last is Litvyak and Moon." she said as she put the clipboard down

"uhm which one of us" Tatyana asked. Hartmann looked down at the clipboard confused to what just happened.

"oh dear. there must have been a mix up. the three of you have been assigned to this room. it was all done as a group thing." Hartmann said trying to figure something out as she looked through the papers. "the bad news is that all the other rooms are filled or are going to be filled when the others arrive. the beds are big enough, one of you will have to share a bed i guess" Hartmann said as they walk into the room.

"well I don't wan't to sleep with anyone" Tatyana said bluntly as she jumped up into the top bunk and closed the curtain.

Antonia's face became shocked as she realized what had happened. "Tatyana wait" she said as she opened the curtain and poked her head through."don't you think it would be better if we shared a bed." she whispered to her sister.

"don't worry sis. I know you like Richard and I wont get in the way of it." Tatyana said as she smiled to her sister.

Antonia's face turned red "is it that obvious"

"yeah. i'm surprised he hasn't noticed. you should share a bed with him. it may move your relationship forward" Tatyana said laying back down.

Antonia dropped down from the bunk and looked over to Richard who had been unpacking his cloths.

"um R-Richard. would you mind sharing the b-bottom bed with me" Antonia asked as her face turned even more red

"oh not at all Antonia. I would like that" Richard said standing up.

'he would like that! he likes me! he wants to sleep with me.' Antonia thinks to herself as she closes her eyes and sits on the bed. she is about to lean back but forgets about the top bunk. with a loud thunk she hits the back of her head on the raised bed.

"ouch" Antonia said as she rubbed her head

"Antonia are you alright" Richard asked as he walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed

"yeah i'm fine. I really should have seen that coming" she joked

"let me take a look" Richard said as he leaned over her to inspect the back of her head. Antonia smiles to herself as he does this as her cheeks turn a bit red.

'he is so kind and caring. a real great guy. if only i could tell him how i feel. i wish i wasn't so shy' Antonia thought as Richard sits back up.

"it looks fine but you should be more careful."

"thank you... um Richard there is something i have been meaning to ask you" Antonia said as she looked into Richards eyes.

"yeah. what is it Antonia" Richard asked as his cheeks started to turn red when he looked deep into Antonia's eyes.

"I wanted to know i-if you uhm... l-like" but before Antonia could finish her question a knock came to the door and Commander Hartmann walked in.

"I'm sorry am I interrupting something" she asked as she looked at Antonia and Richard who were still staring into each others eyes. "Moon I need you for a minute in the hanger" she said as Richard stood up from the bed.

"yes ma'am. we can talk later Antonia" Richard said as he walked out of the room and closed the door.

"yeah. alright." Antonia said as she closes her eyes and clenches her fist.

Tatyana looks over the edge of the bunk and hangs her head upside down. "that was really close. if you didn't take as much time you could have finished before she walked in"

"yeah i know. Wait! you were listening the whole time!" Antonia shouted as Tatyana giggled at her sister.

...

the whole team had gone down to the kitchen to have dinner after they unpacked their bags. Tatyana and Alice had gone down early to prepare dinner for the team. they all took their seats at the table as the two pulled out the meal. they placed plates with lids over them on the table.

"alright everyone please enjoy. Tatyana taught me how to make an Orussian recipe." Alice said as she removed the lid and a puff of smoke came out. the plates had small balls of meat wrapped in dough.

"there called Pelmeni. my mother taught me how to make them" Tatyana said

"it looks great"Shina said as Tatyana and Alice smiled.

the team began to eat their dinner as Richard and Hartmann came in. Richard took his seat next to Antonia.

"hay sorry i'm late. Commander Hartmann wanted me to get familiar with my new jet. its a Liberion Douglas F-10 Skyknight. its an old model but its a night fighter. they think it will be helpful for night missions and patrols"

"that sounds nice. maybe you could give me a ride sometime." Antonia said as Richards face turned red not expecting to hear this from the shy girl.

"yeah. I would love to take you out some time" Richard said as Antonia's face turned red this time.

'he said he wants to take me out! this is going great!' Antonia thought to herself.

"they think it will also be helpful to your sister. she hasn't been on any night patrols but she has trained her radar powers with her mother. I guess she would like the company out over the ocean. I don't mind"

"that's really sweet of you. I think she will appreciate that." Antonia said to him

"oh yeah what was it you were asking me before i left" Richard asked as he served himself some food.

Antonia looks over the room seeing she didn't want to say anything with everyone around.

"oh no... it was nothing. its not important" Antonia said as she looked down and started to move her food around the plate.

"alright" Richard said

'looks like i'm moving one step forward and two steps back. ill have to ask him when the time is right' Antonia thought to herself.

the meal continued as the team talked to each other and shared stories. they spoke of the time they spent at home and told the other four about what they had gone through on the train ride in. Hartmann watched as her new team was already getting along very well.

...

the unit had finished dinner and were now on their way back to their rooms. it was late. almost ten o'clock at night when they finished. they had arrived late and they still haven't seen a large amount of the ship. Antonia, Tatyana and Richard walk into their room and switch on the lights. the three now tired from their long day of traveling prepare to go to sleep.

the three sleepily remove their shoes and place them by the bed. Tatyana and Richard remove their uniforms and fold them. they than place their uniform on the cabinet. Tatyana jumps up to her bunk and gets under the sheets as Richard begins to remove his pants. as Antonia watches this she begins to blush just realizing that she did not wear pajamas to bed. she would have to remove her uniform to go to bed. She watches as Richard puts his pants on top of his shirt and gets into the bed only wearing his boxers.

'this is going to be weird. I should just get it over with.' she thought to herself.

Richard watches as Antonia unbuttons her blue Suomus air force jacket and lays it on the counter. she than lifts her under shirt off over her head as her blond hair falls down onto her shoulders. she turns around to place it on the top of her jacket. without turning back around she bends over and pulls down her tight white pants revealing she was wearing light blue panties. as she turns around she sees Richard was still watching her as he quickly looks away embarrassed about what he was doing. she looks back the other way as her face turns red.

'was he watching me. is he really attracted to me? I think he was looking at my butt' she thinks as she tilts her head back to look at her own butt. wanting to see what Richard liked about it.

Richard notices what she was doing 'Oh man. she noticed me. this is so embarrassing. i would be surprised if she ever wanted to talk to me again.' he thought to himself.

Richard is surprised to see that Antonia still crawled into bed next to him. she turned off the lights as the two just lay there in the dark. Tatyana had already fallen asleep long ago.

"uhm. Antonia i'm sorry for uhh... you know... watching..." Richard started to apologize to her as their faces turned red.

"oh... uh... no its fine. I don't mind really" Antonia said to him as she turned over to look at him.

"no it's just that I... I guess i'm attracted to you" Richard said as the two sleepily look at each other. their eyes shoot open as they become very red and Richard turned over to face the wall. "I mean... Uh... good night"

Antonia looked over at him as he tried to go to sleep after saying that.

'hes attracted to me. he really does like me. but he doesn't know I like him. I need to tell him' Antonia thinks as she starts to think of what to than realizes that she waited to long and Richard really did fall asleep.

Antonia sighed. "ill tell him tomorrow" she said as she put her head on the pillow and fell asleep.

she was soon awoken by a small shaking next to her. when she looked to the side she saw that Richard was shaking from the cold in his sleep. there wasn't much covering them except for a thin blanket as Antonia remembers when Tatyana was talking about how she was even cold on the ship. she had lived in the cold for such a long time that it didn't bother her anymore. looking over at Richard he looked like he was freezing as he shook to warm himself.

"hes going to catch his death if he stays like that" Antonia thinks out loud as she starts to think of how to help him. she gets up from the bed and checks the cabinets to see if there are any other sheets but they are empty. she gets back in the bed.

'i have to do something' she thinks as Richard turns over still shivering. 'maybe i can keep him warm. but that would mean' she blushes as she thinks of what to do. 'i just need to remember its for his health.' she thinks as she wraps her arms around her and puts her body against his. Richard begins to slowly stop shivering as Antonia closes her eyes and lets out a sigh of relief. as she lay next to him she feels his heart beat on her hands as she feels his back. 'this feels nice. i could get used to this.' she thinks as she looks at Richard sleeping.

Antonia's face turns red as she feels Richards head lean against her chest. he nestles the side of his head onto her breasts as he sleeps as she watches him. he also unconsciously wraps his arms around her lower back as she looks behind her. Antonia feels his hands start to move down her back and go low on her butt.

'even when hes asleep he is touching it' she thinks as her face turns red. she looks down at him as he sleeps soundly against her. a small smile comes across Antonia's face as she sees how peaceful he looks. 'oh well. I don't mind. I really do like him.' she thought as she put her head onto his. she smelt his hair as it smelt very good but it had the faint scent of motor oil from the short time he spent in the hanger.

'he should take a shower tomorrow to get the oil out' Antonia thought with a yawn as she drifted off to sleep 'i wouldn't mind washing his hair' was the last thing she thought before she passed out.

Antonia poured shampoo into her hand and brought it down to Richards long black hair. Richard knelt down in front of her as she bent down behind him. the showers water falls down on them as the fog clouds around. as Antonia runs her hands through his hair it begins to bubble and fall down around him. she pulls his head back under the water and lets it rinse out. as Richard stands up and turns to her he puts his arms around her wet body. she places her hands on his sudsy shoulders. the water still pours down on their heads as Richard pulls her close to him. the two move their lips close to each others. as Antonia moves in to kiss him she closes her eyes when she opens them she isn't wet anymore and can no longer feel Richards lips.

'what just' she thought as she looked behind her at the clock. it said it was two in the morning. 'it was all a dream!why would i dream that' she thought as she looked down at Richard who was still cuddling with her.

'was it a dream... or was it a vision! oh no' Antonia thought as she remembered her powers. Antonia had trained for years to gain the power to see the future. she was able to glimpse seconds into the future when she was awake but when it came to sleep she had powerful deja vu's. she could see far into the future when she dreamed. she could see the future clearly when she had a deja vu but she was never sure when it was going to happen. it could be tomorrow or next year. she was never sure.

'well i guess it is a good. maybe this is a sign i will tell him' Antonia thinks to herself as she puts one of her hands behind his head and rubbed his hair.' all i have to do is tell him' she smiled as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.


	8. jets roar over the runway

**Horizons** **Edge**

The alarm rings in the small room as Richard begins to stir from his bed. he attempts to move but finds that he is being held down. he opens his eyes as the light makes his vision go blank. he cannot see anything but he can feel a soft object against his face. he also feels his arms are raped around something and he feels something soft in his hands. as his vision adjusts he tries to collect himself as he feels around with his hands. Antonia begins to open her eyes as she is also hit by the light. she feels someones skin pressed against her and her arms are wrapped around someone but she couldn't remember who. suddenly Antonia's eyes spring open as she feels something squeeze her butt. at the same moment Richard opens his eyes to see a pair of breasts in his face. Richard springs up and he catches Antonia in eye contact as the two look at each other with red faces.

"A-Antonia. i'm... so sorry... i" Richard starts to try to explain himself but he couldn't get the words out.

"oh n-no its not your fault" Antonia said as she bowed her head to escape Richards gaze "I-i put you like this" she said with an embarrassed small smile.

"what" Richard said as his face turned more red.

"No No No not like that." Antonia said seeing she had sent the wrong message "Yo-you looked cold last night so i just kind of... you know.." she said as she had trouble saying the last part.

"oh so you... kept me warm... with y-your... body..." Richard finally said as Antonia looked back up at him and they continued to look into each others eyes.

"yeah... but you kind of grabbed my b-butt again..." she said shyly as Richard becomes very embarrassed.

"Oh i'm sorry... I guess I couldn't control myself" Richard said as he removed his hands realizing they were still down there.

'i think now would be the best time to say something. it would be right seeing the position we are in' Antonia thought to herself

"Richard i..." she said as she heard something hit the ground behind her. as she turned she saw Tatyana rubbing her eyes as she walked over to the clock that was still ringing loudly.

"if you guys aren't going to shut it off you could at least tell me" she said hitting the to of the alarm clock and stopping the ringing.

"sorry" Richard says as he attempts to get up but finds that Antonia's arms are still around him.

"oh sorry" she says as she lets him go.

Richard begins to get dressed in his pilot jumpsuit as he gets his gear prepared. his pilot attire was bulky and covered in pockets and straps. he laces his boots as Antonia just watches in wonder.

"you sure have allot of equipment" she said

"yeah when it comes to piloting there is a big difference in what we wear to the witches" he said as he pulled his helmet out of a bag and put it under his arm. the helmet was a standard pilots helmet. it was an olive drab helmet with a black visor that came across the eyes. a long black tube ran down from the bottom of the helmet and attached to a respirator. a few wires hung out of the side ear where a radio was built in so he could communicate with the tower. on a metal panel that overlapped the visor there was something that caught Antonia's eye. Richard had the helmet for a long time, you could tell by the many scratches in it, so he had personalized it with some paints that he picked up on his day off. Richard had painted the insignia of Britannia with a peace sign over it on the panel. over the insignia he had a slogan written in small back letters. Antonia leans in to see what it said.

"that's a cool helmet" Antonia said still trying to read the words.

"oh thanks" Richard said as he tosses it up and looks into the visor to see himself "i have had it for a while. they wanted me to replace it for a new model but i turned them down. i have seen allot through this visor." he said handing it to her. Antonia looks at the insignia to see what it said now that she could get close enough to see.

"you like the painting" Richard said "It was something i just felt like doing" he said with a smile.

"yeah i like what you wrote" she said reading it out loud "press on regardless" she said as she looked up at him with a smile and gave him back his helmet "kind of like never give up right?"

"that's what i had in mind" Richard said.

"well we better get going. training starts soon" Tatyana said as she opened the door and headed out.

"we should get going to Antonia you want to walk down to the hanger together" Richard said as he leaned against the door.

"oh yeah" she said getting up"that sounds nice"

Richard just looks at her as his face turns red again.

"uhm... you should get dressed first" Richard said as Antonia looked down and realized she was still in her undergarments. she covers herself with her hands as she grabs a uniform and new underwear from the drawer. Richard looks away as she starts to change.

"are you ready" he said as he turned around and was met with Antonia bending over to pull up her new panties. he is struck silent as he just looked down at her as she pulls it up her long white legs and let it snap around her thighs. his face is very red as she stands up and fixes her hair than turns around and sees him. her face changes to red as she picks up a pillow and throws it at his face.

"don't look!" she said as she grabs her pants and quickly puts them on. she than pulls on a new shirt and buttons up her coat. she is very silent as she puts on her shoes and walks over to the door.

"I-Im so sorry... i didn't think you were still..." Richard started as he followed her out the door and down the hall.

Antonia sighs as she continues to look forward and starts to speak. "its not your fault. you couldn't have known. i overreacted a little." she said as the two walk up the stairs to the hanger. "besides its not like you saw anything right." she asked as Richards face turned red. when Antonia saw this she could clearly tell he was watching her for longer than she thought. "oh... U-Uhm... we should get to the h-hanger" she said as she quickly walks down the hall.

the two enter the large room where some of the other witches had already arrived. parked along the walls were many jets that stretched on to the far end of the hanger. they ranged from bombers to small recon jets and had their own personal look to each. clearly they had belonged to experienced pilots because of the paintings on their sides that showed the personality of their pilot. many of them had burns and smoke marks covering them from their long use in combat. Richard and Antonia walked past many pilots who ranged in ages from twenty to high forties. when they got past the many jets they saw the striker units bay. wall to wall on both sides of the hanger were jet like legs being moved and repaired or made ready for flight.

Antonia looks around and spots hers next to her sisters on the far side of the room.

"come on Richard. can you help me get ready." she asked as they walked over to the equipment.

"yeah. id like to see what you are flying" he said as he looked over the strange device. the jet striker was a bulkier than the older models of striker units. the original round look had been replaced by a more flat look. it's new design made it look stronger and more futuristic. it was a bit larger than the older models to. on its side it had large sharp wings with flaps to help assist turning. lower down the unit had tail wings and a tail at the back of where the feet would be. on the bottom of the unit it cut off abruptly where the jets were. cylinders at the bottom of the jet had black tops where the magic force would allow the pilots to get into the air. Antonia's model was a MiG-17 Jet Striker developed in Orussia in 1950. it had a rounder design compared to the other units but thanks to Antonia it now had upgraded to a more stronger fuselage. its original flat gray paint job had been replaced by a blue and white camouflage making it harder to spot among the clouds and sky during the day. close to where the legs enter the striker Richard saw in small black letters Antonia's name and rank like how it would be written under the cockpit of a jet. the Orussian insignia was on both sides of the Jet and on the tail along with a few letters and numbers. Antonia had also attached missile racks to the under side of her wings but no missiles were loaded at the time.

"so i hear you have done allot of work on this thing" Richard said still looking it over as Antonia is suiting up with her new uniform next to the striker. she removes her jacket and puts on the jacket given to her by the Liberion army. it was an olive drab jacket with long sleeves that she rolled up so they wouldn't get in the way. she than grabbed a belt and wrapped it around her waist. on the belt there were many large bags for holding ammunition. she pulls on a pair of black finger less gloves and picks up a green headset and places it over her ears. the headset was bulky and tight so it wouldn't fall off when she flew at high speeds. on the right arm of her uniform was a patch depicting her rank and unit. on the other side was the insignia of Suomus her birthplace and on her chest a patch with her name on it. She still wore her black pantyhose that allowed her to get in and out of her striker comfortably and quickly.

Antonia adjusts the speaker on her headset as she walks up to the back of the unit. they push it onto a platform in the middle of the room. The Striker had wheels on its bottom as Richard helped taxi it over to a large platform. they than put bricks beneath the wheels so it wouldn't roll by itself. the two stood there for a few seconds as the platform soon rocked a bit than began to rise to the runway. the roof opened up and the sunlight blinded the two as the platform came to a halt on the runway. this was their first time being up there and they were amazed at what they saw. it was massive. the black runway stretched far down to the other side of the ship with a shorter second ramp for others to take off on. men ran from side to side as they moved equipment and got jets fueled for takeoff. the two look up as they see three witches soar by followed by two jets as they train using flight patterns. they couldn't see who was flying the units but they were partly sure they saw Tatyana up there up there with them.

Antonia climbed up a set of stairs that was behind the unit and positioned herself over jets. she than jumps down into it as a bright light covers her body. she blushes as she feels its warmth over her body and makes her hair raise off her shoulder. as the sound of the jets roar Richard watches as black fox ears appear from beneath her light hair and a tail pushes past the back of her jacket. the blue light than fades away as her hair drops back to her shoulders. he is surprised to see this with his own eyes. he had known of how the witches powers worked and what happened but was amazed to see this in person. the heat emanating from the machine was very powerful as Richard felt it warm his skin from this close. he walks over to her side and grabs the wing.

two men wearing helmets with black visors that covered their eyes and yellow life jackets run over to them.

" alright lets get you ready for takeoff" the taller man said as he gave a thumbs up to the other man who sent hand signals to the control tower that they were getting ready to launch another striker. "we just need to be sure your ready to go" the man said as he knelt down next to the striker and removed the bricks from the wheels and allowed Richard to talk her through the standard take off protocol while he positioned her on runway for a straight take off.

"Lets first check the Flaps. Right side" he said as Antonia moved the flaps on her wings to be sure they were working. as the flaps swung up and down she gave Richard a thumbs up and he returned it.

"alright. left side" he said as she moved the flaps on the left.

"flaps are good. switching to radio." he said as he put his helmet on and switched on his radio. his hearing was muffled from the outside world as he spoke into the mic. "can you hear me"

"loud and clear" Antonia said with a smile.

"alright lets do a weapons check" Richard said as the shorter man pulled up a crate with the Orussian insignia on it.

"these are your teams weapons. keep them safe. it was hard enough to get these few out here." he said as he opens the box and starts to pulls out to clips and walks over to Antonia. Richard reaches into the box and pulls out a Kalashnikov AK-47. he makes sure the safety is on as he hands it to Antonia. it was a light gun compared to the heavier weapons some of the others used but she made up for it with the missiles that the short man pulled over and placed next to the other box. the short man starts to place the missiles on the racks as Richard starts to talk into the microphone again.

"hows the weight feel" he asked as she placed the magazines in her bags.

"its not bad" she said as she loaded the rifle with one of the clips. the AK-47 can only hold 30 bullets in a magazine which was allot less than the high capacity weapons the others used but she made up for that with her missiles. she was able to remotely launch them through her striker with her magic. it gave her the fire power to take down large enemies but it was not able to track its target which she had been working on for some time. she was still far from any actual results.

"i think your ready to go." Richard said as he gave a thumbs up to the tower and the runway lit up.

(I listened to **Thunderstruck by ACDC** when i wrote this so it may read better if you listen to it. i may drop a few songs in later to add to the experience. tell me what you think)

Antonia began to rev her jets as the tower contacted her on the radio and let her know she was clear for take off. a blue magical circle grew from beneath her as she got ready to thunder down the runway. the loud roar of the jets begins to get louder as the men run to a safe distance. the taller man gets on his shin as he lifts his arm into the air and than throws it down. when Antonia sees this she takes off down the run way. in an instant she is gone in a blast of noise and out over the ocean. Richard is blown back by this speed as he watches her as she curves around to fly over the ship once again.

"Antonia come in. hows everything holding up" Richard asks into the radio

"its great. it feels so good to fly after such a long time" Antonia said overflowing with joy that she was in the air again. she rolls the striker around as she soars through the air. the wind breaks around her as she reaches high speeds and starts to climb higher into the air. Hartmann came up on her side and chimed in to their radio signal.

"alright lets see what you got. there are targets set up out over to the north. shoot them all down." She said to Antonia than dropped her speed as she turned upright and quickly fell behind her.

Antonia pulled hard as she redirected herself towards the balloons out over the water. she powers towards them and readies her weapon. aiming down the sights she opens fire on the first two as they ignite with a flash of fire seconds after the bullets pass through them. she than passes the third target as she flips onto her back and looks down at it. placing the gun against her striker to steady her aim she opens fire backwards on the balloon and gets another direct hit.

"nicely done." Antonia heard over the radio as Hartmann's voice comes back over the radio.

"thanks commander" she said as she falls back into formation with Hartmann and the others.

Richard watches the witches pass over the ship in an arrow formation.

"amazing" he says to himself

"come again Richard" Antonia said into the mic as Richard didn't realize his radio was still on.

"oh just watching your training. your doing well." he said as Antonia begins to blush

"thanks" she said as the formation broke apart. Antonia leans her unit to the side and begins to descend close to the water.

...

in the command center a man watches over the radar. as the line sweeps around the radar he watches for any traces of an enemy. soon a small dot appears on the screen.

"uhm Admiral you may want to take a look at this." he said waving over Halsey

"what is it" Halsey asked looking at the radar

"We have an unknown aircraft moving towards our location at a fast speed."

"alright alert the troops. battle stations people!" Halsey said walking over to the radio

...

Hartmann watches over the girls as they soar through the sky and shoot down the targets.

"Hartmann. come in" she heard out of her speaker.

"what is it Admiral" she asked holding her headset with her free hand

"we have an enemy coming in from the north fast and it looks is no doubt this is a neuroi. can you intercept it" Halsey asked as Hartmann looked over the girls.

"I don't think these girls have the experience or the fire power to stop a neuroi." Hartmann said when she remembered Antonia hadn't been out as long.

"Antonia. i need you and Richard to help me. we have a threat coming in and you two are the only ones that can help. do you have enough energy" she asked

"yeah. i think i can manage. ill call Richard up and tell him to come out." she said as Richard receives the call and runs over to his Jet.

the Skyknight was carted out to the middle of the runway as Richard climbs the latter and takes his seat behind the controls. a second man climbs up and takes a seat behind him at the copilots seat as the canopy closes above them. the runway clears them for takeoff as they start up the engines. the warm air rushes from the jets over the field as Richard pulls down his visor over his eyes and puts on his O2 mask. the man gets into position again as he drops his arm and Richard boosts the jet forward and with a loud blast it takes off over the sea.

the Skyknight was a fast dark plane. it was very sleek and silent when it flew which made it perfect for night missions. its black paint made it impossible to spot with the naked eye. it was also very powerful when it came to weaponry holding ten air to air rockets beneath its wings and four 20mm Hispano-Suiza M2 cannons in its lower forward Fuselage.

As Richard flew the other two girls caught up with him and leveled out next to him. they lined up on his wings as they quickly made their way to the north towards the enemy. Richard radioed his co pilot to do a weapons check. when he got the thumbs up they were ready for combat.

"What are we going up against Commander Hartmann." Richard asked over the radio

" we will know when we get a visual." she said making sure her gun is loaded.

Antonia's eyes light up suddenly when she gets a feeling something is coming. she used her magic to see into the future and predict her enemy's attacks before they even happen.

"Richard look out!" she said as a twinkle is seen over the horizon than it becomes a red blast that comes straight for the Skyknight. the two brake off as Richard quickly rolls to the side and barely dodges the laser.

"what the hell was that" Richard heard from behind him as he tries to keep the jet moving from side to side so the enemy cannot get a shot on them.

"Richard are you alright" he heard Antonia's voice over the radio

"yeah. thanks for the heads up" he responded

"you two can kiss later" Hartmann broke in. when they heard this their faces turned red as Richard looked up through the cockpit at Antonia "keep focused. its comeing" she said

the lasers start to come in pairs of two than four as they dodged out of the way. side to side. up and down. the three still didn't see anything over the horizon. than suddenly a black speck started to grow closer and closer until they could make out what it was. by the patterns and colors there was no doubt it was a neuroi.

"that's defiantly a neuroi" Hartmann said as she trained her sights on it

"alright. lets get ride of it fast before it picks one of us off. prep the missiles." Richard said to his co pilot as he steadied the jet to get a shot off.

"a neuroi... i thought there was only one... where did this one come from" Antonia asked as she took of the safety and prepped her missiles. this was going to be the first neuroi she had ever fought in her life. it looked allot tougher than a balloon.

"are you ready Antonia" Richard asked over the radio.

"i don't know. it looks tough" she responded not sure of herself.

"don't worry. i'll be right here by your side." Richard said as they lined up and prepared to fire their missiles.

"here it comes!" Hartmann shouted as the thunder of the engines roared over the ocean and the three came face to face with this new threat.


	9. Shes got a way about her

**Romagna- 15th Air Force Headquarters**

A strong breeze rolls over the hills and through the long runway in Romagna. The faint sounds of workers can be heard from inside the hangers that lined the tar mat. on the opposite end of the runway a small base stood where the pilots would spend their nights. Most of the pilots at least. There was one Witch who spent more time sleeping in the trees than in her own bed. Atop the branches a towel is laid down and a girl stretches her arms before dropping herself on top of it. Her arms dangle down on each side of the branch as she peacefully looks off into the distance down the runway. her long black hair falls down over her eyes as she playfully pushes it out of the way. From inside her white jacket pocket she pulls a small silver lighter with the initials FL written into it. She toys with it as she flicks the top open and shut. open and shut. If you asked her if she smoked she would give you the same answer she gives everyone else who asks about the lighter. A big N-O. she carries around the lighter because it is used to ignite her napalm.

In the many years that have passed the armament of Striker Units have become more complex as seen with the attachment of missiles and bombs. This girl uses tankers attached to the sides of her unit to drop a thick flammable on her enemy than light it with the help of the flint lighter. With a combination of magic she can extend the spark a far distance and light up the sky with a blaze of glory. Although she hasn't had a chance to use it other than in training because of the lack of threats.

Back to the girl in the tree though. She whips the lighter back one more time than with her thumb flicks the flint onto the steel. with a spark the fire ignites and a small flame sits on top of the lighter. It starts to stir and fade as the wind picks up. The girl breaks her attention from the blaze and looks up to see the source of that wind was a large plane coming towards her as it begins to descend on the runway. it was a Liberion combat plane but on the tail it flew the flag of the Republic of Gallia. The plane was a Lockheed MC-130 transport but the girl had no idea why it was coming. She knew it wasn't for supplies because they had just gotten them two days ago. The landing gears drop from below the aircraft as a loud screech can be heard as it lands on the runway. the plane slows to a halt as the propellers begin to rotate slowly until they finally stop spinning. The young girl drops down from the tree as the MC-130 slowly taxis over to her. Workers from a nearby hanger rush out with a staircase and aline it with the door of the aircraft. The door opens and a boy walks out and down the stairs towards the girl.

The first thing she noticed about him was his long blond hair. it wasn't so long that it went past his shoulders but it was long for a boy. he was also tall but thin and not very muscular. he had pale pink skin that went along with his light hair. he wore a Blue Gallian air force jacket and black pants. There was something about him that made the girl think he wasn't your run of the mill regular pilot though.

"Excuse me. Are you Florenza Lucchini" the boy asked when he got down below the tree with her. she nodded and the boy reached into his pocket and handed her a letter. "i am pilot officer Alphonse Clostermann. I have been instructed to escort you to the war front aboard the Horizons Edge."

"What do you mean the war front. Where is this Horizons Edge" Florenza asks putting the paper back into the letter and handing it back to Alphonse.

"oh... im sorry i don't really know all of the details. Your just going to have to trust me on this." Alphonse says stepping to the side and makes a jester towards the stairs. Florenza could tell he was really hoping she would go along without any trouble. It was obvious that he couldn't answer any questions she had.

"Well i guess i don't have a choice" She said looking behind her to see one of the mechanics was pushing her striker unit towards the plane while another walked over to her and handed her a suitcase.

"looks like your all packed. lets get going" Alphonse said

the two walk aboard the large aircraft. Florenza looks about the spacious cabin of the plane. There were many seats that lined the inside walls of the plane. Florenza took a seat and began to buckle herself in. At the front of the plane she saw the door open and Alphonse walk out and take a seat next the her.

"The pilot said we will be taking off soon" He said clipping the two buckles together over his chest.

"your not flying this plane" Florenza asked giving him a confused look.

"oh no... i fly something different." He said as he was about to go more into explaining it but the plane started to move. "looks like were about to get going" he said smiling to Florenza. Alphonse is noticeably allot like his mother. He is always very kind at hart and happy.

The plane flies for a couple of minutes as the two sit next to each other silently. Alphonse looks over at Florenza to see her looking out the window. Alphonse unbuckled his belt and stood in front of her.

"I think it should be safe to walk around. Come on i want to show you something" Alphonse said as he unbuckled her from the seat.

the two walk to the back of the plane where a large tarp covers two figures. Alphonse pulls it off and tosses it to the side. Florenza first sees her striker unit in front of her. it was a sleek silver Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. it had two large tanks on its sides filled with napalm on both sides under its wings. the unit had large exhausts on either side below the wings as well. it looked very much like the other units.

Behind her unit was another striker locked in to the plane. it was a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. its large engines lay on its jet black wings. it was painted black with small lines of red on the wings and fuselage. it had a more sharp side look to it along with pointed bottoms contrary to the regular models that have jets on the bottom.

Alphonse walks over to the Blackbird and put his arm on it. "This is what i fly" he said with a smile.

"what! you pilot a striker" Florenza said looking over the boy "i had heard that there are one or two male witches ever generation but i never expected i would ever see one" It was true that there were little to no male witches in the world in a generation of female witches. It had been that way from the beginning. It was already very rare to be born a female witch.

"yeah i'm one in a million i guess. i'm a warlock more or less" He said with a laugh but Florenza didn't say anything. She just looked at him for a few seconds."whats wrong" Alphonse asked confused by the girls sudden silence.

"if your a warlock how do expect to fly with these" She said tackling him to the floor playfully.

"Hay what are you doing" Alphonse said as his face started to turn red as he felt her grabbing at his pants. "hay stop!"

"how are you going to fly with these pants on" she said as she playfully tugged at his pants and laughed. clearly Florenza takes after her mother. Her playful manner and sunny disposition would fool you into thinking she wasn't even closely part of the air force but her skills in combat would prove otherwise.

Alphonse sees it is all a joke so he decides to joke back as he turns over and pins Florenza to the ground by her shoulders. the two laugh and Florenza pushes him back off of her and jumps back on top of him. She lay on top of his chest as the two meet face to face. They look into each others eyes as Florenza is entranced in what she sees. She gets lost in Alphonse's light blue eyes as he is slowly drifting off into her clear hazel eyes.

"Your eyes... there so..." Alphonse starts to say as Florenza starts to blush.

"yes" She responds as the two slowly get closer together.

Suddenly the door to the cockpit at the far end of the plane opens and the co pilot walks out. The two quickly jump to their feet and fix their uniforms. Alphonse pulls his pants back up and fixes his belt.

"Whats with all the noise. what are you two doing unstrapped. We could hit turbulence at any moment its dangerous to be playing around." The copilot says as the two walk back to their seats.

"Sorry about that ma'am" Florenza said as she takes her seat next to Alphonse and buckles herself back in.

"No harm done" The copilot started "You two better get comfortable. Your going to be on this plane for a while. we got allot of sky to cover before we even reach the sea." She said as she started walking back to cockpit."You can take the time to get to know each other. Not like you haven't already started" She said with a smile closing the door.

The two look away from each other embarrassed that she saw what they were doing. Florenza blushes as she looks back over to Alphonse. He returns the glance and the two smile.

" what was all the commotion back there" the pilot asked as the co pilot took her seat.

"Oh it was nothing much. Clostermann was just putting the moves on the girl that's all" She said as she put back on her flight helmet.

"HA!" the pilot laughed loudly "leave it to the Gallian to be flirting with every girl he sees!" he jokes as the two share a laugh and continue to fly the large aircraft towards the distant hillsides.

...

**International waters North of the Horizons Edge**

(Gimme Shelter- The Rolling Stones- Recommended Music ;)

Antonia quickly rolls herself out of the way of a large red beam coming right towards her. Her ability to see the enemies attacks gives her a great advantage in combat but she is being fired at to rapidly and cant get time to line up her shot. Every time she gets a chance she will attempt to fire but she can only get out a few rounds before she has to put up a shield to defend herself.

Richard wasn't having any luck either. He could not get the plane in line with the enemy before he had to brake off due to its attack. the constant onslaught of beams attempting to rip apart his jet were very difficult to dodge. Occasional one would skim the metal of the wing not doing much damage but still very dangerous.

The Neuroi was large and diamond shaped with a flat bottom and a pointed top. its short wings extended in a almost allwing style with two tails at the end. it had the usual black and red skin that all other Neuroi had. its loud screeches could be heard for miles over the relatively quiet ocean.

Antonia prepares a rocket to fire. with a large roar it takes off beneath her wing and charges at the enemy with a trail of smoke following behind. it lands a crushing blow to the front of the Neuroi. with a blast of shrapnel and fire the Rocket explodes on the nose of the enemy as a loud metallic scream is heard from the alien.

"Its a hit!" Antonia says into her microphone.

"Don't get cocky" Julia says as the smoke clears to reveal the Neuroi is still alive although it has a huge crater in its front. the lasers begin to fly once again and Julia puts up a shield to protect herself. "Were going to need to come up with a better plan if were going to take this thing down" Julia says.

Richard breaths hard into his O2 respirator as he continues to weave through the laser beams. It is vary hard to maneuver the Skyknight through the projectiles and it is taking a tole on him. Another laser barely misses him as he backs off to a safer distance. The two witches pull away as well to reload their weapons.

At this time small twinkles of white light begin to form on the nose of the Neuroi.

"What the hell?" Richard hears his copilot comment behind him as he turns to see whats going on. the white lite begins to turn into the Neuroi's black armor and form around its wound.

"Holly! the damn things healing itself!" Richards copilot screams into the mic. Antonia has to pull her headphones away from her ears because the copilot is screaming so loud.

"Thanks Captain Obvious" She comments putting back on her headphones.

"Calm down. We just need to figure out where its core is. all the history books say that destroying the core is the only way to defeat a Neuroi" Richard says over the Radio.

"If only we had Shina with us... Damn it!" Julia shouts. "We will just have to keep fighting until we find it" She orders.

"Right!" the other three respond in unison.

The Neuroi had finished healing and was now setting its sights on the SkyKnight. With a huge boost of jets it fly directly towards the two.

"Richard look out" Antonia shouts over the radio.

to his surprise the Neuroi was now behind him and tailing strong. Richard tries to use his afterburners to gain some distance but it dosn't make much difference.

"oh god were gonna die!" Richards copilot shouts as the Neuroi begins to lock on to them.

"Were not going to die! Just shut up and let me fly." Richard says as he pulls the the plain drastically upwards. the sudden catch of air causes the plane to flip backwards over the Neuroi. Richards perception started to move in slow motion as everything around him was barely could hear the loud slow beating of his heart that was before rapidly pounding. He looked in front of him to see that his planes nose was now pointing directly at the top of the Neuroi. He quickly pulls the trigger and unleashes a hail of led to the canopy of the enemy. Richard than pushes down hard on the stick to steady his plane at the end of his flip. Richards hears his heart beat begin to speed up again and everything around him speeds up again.

"WOOOHOO!" Richard shouts.

'that was amazing! How did he pull that off! he is even more amazing than i thought!' Antonia thought to herself.

"Antonia! Finish it off" Richard shouts over the mic.

"im on it!" she says cocking her gun and flying down towards the enemy. Richards stunt caused allot of damage to the Neuroi that was now falling apart from the top down. The core was now easily visible in its wound. Antonia opens fire on it and it shatters into peaces.

"I did it!" Antonia shouts as the Neuroi begins to glow bright white and then shatters into small white peaces of metal. The shrapnel rains down into the water as the three regroup into formation and turn back towards the ship.

"nicely done Antonia. I couldn't have done it any better myself" Julia says to the her as Antonia starts to blush.

"well i couldn't have done it without Richards help. where did you learn how to fly like that" Antonia asked.

"The Royal air force has some really good teachers." Richard said as they approached the ship.

"Be sure to include that fancy flying in your mission debriefing. I'm sure the higher ups would want to know the skill of the pilots we have out here" Julia says.

The three approach the aircraft carrier and get ready to land.

**Latter that night on the deck of the Horizons Edge**

many of the crew and pilots have all gone to sleep at this hour but a small few still work around the ship. In the large hanger among the still working crew members two familiar faces begin to suit up for a night patrol.

"*YAWN* I thought we weren't going to start patrols until we got closer inland" Tatyana Said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Thanks to what happened today the fleet admiral thought it best we be prepared in case of any other surprises." Richard said clipping his pants compression buckles to make sure he didn't pass out from blood rushing to his feet during flight.

"that makes sense. I just wish i got more sleep.*YAWN*" Tatyana says as she sleepily puts on her gear. Richard smiles and hands her a headset.

"here your going to need this" he says putting it on her head."come on lets get in position"

Richard walks behind the large pair of striker units that belong to Tatyana. Its an Ilyushin IL-28. the Medium sized bomber Units were still very big compared to this young girl. it was sleek with huge engines on its wings instead of at the bottom of the feet. it also had large containers on its sides for holding bombs that would be dropped from it during flight. it wasn't effective against flying Neuroi but would devastate ground units. It was jet black and had the Orusian insignia painted on its side just like her mothers striker.

"alright lets get it topside" Richard said as the two pushed it onto the elevator and headed for the runway. when they reached the top the view of the ocean was magnificent. the moon shined high in the sky and its light reflected off the water with a white glow that stretched deep into the horizon.

"the moon looks so beautiful tonight right Richard" Tatyana said as she began to place her legs into the units. When she gets inside her body glows blue like the others and a long black tail pokes out from under her jacket and black cat ears poke up on her head. Along with this a blue glowing antenna appears over her head.

"yeah... it sure does" he said looking over the ocean than turning his gaze down the runway to notice something at the end of it. "Tatyana... get ready to take off i'll be right back" Richard said as he started to walk down to the other end of the ship.

Antonia dangled her feet over the edge of the ship as she looked out over the ocean. She stared out into the distance and took in the sight of the moon. It was often to cold to enjoy a night like this back in Orussia but now that they were heading into more tropical waters the nights were very warm and relaxing on the upper deck of the ship. She let out a sigh as she was deep in thought.

'What an exciting day. I got my first confirmed kill. Although none of it would be possible without Richards help.' She thinks to herself as she lays back and closes her eyes. 'I wonder where Richard is right now... maybe i should go find him. talking about today's fight would be a good way to start the conversation then i could work it towards telling him how i feel' This thought made Antonia warm inside as she thought what Richard would say. As she thought of him that dream of them came back into her head. It begins to replay as she remembers until she shakes her head to try to stop thinking of stuff like that.

"hay are you alright" Antonia hears a voice next to her. she opens her eyes and sees Richard is sitting next to her.

"AH! Richard. how long have you been here" Antonia asked as she got up and fixed her cloths.

"i just got up here and noticed you were stargazing" Richard said as he stood up as well

"yeah... and..." Antonia said sheepishly.

"I... I was... kind of... you know... wondering if I could take you for a fly?" He said

Antonia blushed and for a second didn't say anything

"uh...yeah... i would like that..." she said.

Richard smiled and took her hand. "alright then ... lets go" He said as Antonia began to turn more red from this small amount of contact.

The two walked over to the SkyKnight and Richard cleared Tatyana for takeoff.

"I'll see you up there" she said as she took off into the clouds.

Richard than helped Antonia up into the Jet. Antonia was about to take a seat at the copilots chair when Richard stoped her.

"this is just a patrol. I don't think i'm going to need a copilot." he said as he took a seat in his chair and patted his lap.

Antonia blushed 'he is very charming isn't he' she thought to herself and took a seat on Richards lap. "do you think Hartmann will get mad if we do this" she asks.

"what Julia doesn't know wont hurt her." Richard says with a smile as the canopy shuts above them and the jets start to quietly hum. the jet then rockets down the runways and they are then airborne. for a short time the white clouds cover the whole plane and nothing can be seen. the low tone of the wind being the only thing that can be heard sends chills down Antonias body.

"if you thought the view from the ship was nice wait until you see this." Richard said as the plane cuts through the top of the clouds.

"its so beautiful up here" Antonia says looking over the sky. the clouds look like an ocean of white in the sky and the stars shine bright above them against the pitch black sky. the full moon now hangs over in the distance in its full glory illuminating the sea of clouds.

"yeah... its so peaceful and quiet up here." he says

"yeah... maybe even... romantic..." Antonia says shyly as her cheeks turn red. Richard moves to the side so Antonia can move back and the two could see each other face to face.

"...Antonia...I" Richard starts.

"wait... Richard... I have something i have been meaning to ask you..." She interrupts.

"yeah... what is it" He says recalling all the other times they were interrupted. now it was just the two of them alone. no interruptions.

"these past few days fave been so great... and i think they have been this way because i was close to you Richard... I like being with you... I like being close to you... and what i'm asking is... I want to be closer to you... I want to..." She pauses for a short time to think of the right words "I want love you..." she finally says as her cheeks turn red. "and I... I want you to love me back" She finishes.

Richard hits a switch and turns on the auto pilot then puts his arms around Antonia. "Antonia... I... I will love you back" he says.

Antonia unbuckles Richards helmet and takes it off of then puts her hands on his shoulders. the two look into each others eyes as they begin to come closer and closer together, their lips lock in the middle and they share a passionate kiss.

(she's got a way- Billy Joel- Recommended music to end the chapter on)


	10. don't mess with a ship from New Jersey

**Aboard the USS New Jersey**

A week had passed since the first attack on the horizons edge and the few witches who had not arrived yet were starting to catch up with the large aircraft carrier. The battleship rips through the rough waters at a high speed in attempts of reaching its destination in time. The USS New Jersey had a powerful look to it and the fire power to back it up. Having nine 16" mark 7 main guns and twenty 5" mark 12 Guns mounted on its deck this ship could put a huge hole in the Neuroi line. On the Front of the ships haul a large sixty two was painted in white and black. At the center stood of the ship stood the bridge. Its massive rooms were cluttered with officers and workers moving documents and checking maps.

The sun was setting in the distance and the sky was lit up with wonderful colors from orange to pink. Masako was at the front of the ship daydreaming and staring off into the distance. She rested her arms on the point where the two rails on each side connected at the front of the ship.

"*sigh* How am I supposed to help anyone in the air force. I don't even know how to fly. I can't even heal people without fainting... I'm useless. I'll only get in the way" Masako said to herself out loud. She started to tear in the eyes as she thought how helpless she would be and all the people who could get hurt because of her. She was close to the point of breaking down and crying.

"You shouldn't think of yourself that way" Masako heard from behind her as she turned to see Ivan sitting on top of one of the cannons. He jumps down to the deck and walks over to Masako. She uses her sleeve to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I didn't know you were listening... its true though. I'm useless" She said as the tears started to come back again. Ivan gives her a stern look but it quickly fades to one of compassion as his hand comes down on her head and rustles her brown hair.

"You haven't even started yet. You can't know if you're useless unless you try... And I can tell from the short time I have been with you that you are far from useless." He said putting his hand on her shoulder. Masako smiles as the tears rolling down her cheeks are from joy and not sadness anymore. She wraps her arms around Ivan and gives him a big hug.

"Thanks Ivan. I feel much better now" She said laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

"That's not what I came up here for though. I was going to give you this" he said handing her a uniform wrapped in twine.

"This is what I'm going to be wearing?" She asked holding up the white Jacket that had the Fuso air force insignia on the arm.

"Yes. Now that you are an officer of the air force you should dress like one." He said putting the white pilot officers hat on her head and taking a step back. "Ha. It looks good on you"

This comment makes Masako Blush. "Thanks" she says as she puts on the jacket.

The two look off into the distance at the sunset as the day closes. Their long journey had taken them such a distance that it was hard to believe they had made it this far. Over the course of their travel the two became more comfortable around each other to the point you would think they knew each other for years. Masako opened up to him more when they had time to talk and they would exchange stories of their life at home. Ivan became more playful over time as Masako slowly wore away at his tough outer shell. He talked about the great battles that his father fought in and a few stories his father had told him about great witches he had met during the war. He also had some funny stories and jokes he would tell to keep her entertained when she was felling bored. Along with that Ivan also knew of the power the Neuroi held and how dangerous they were from his father's stories. He tried to pass all of his knowledge about them on to Masako so she could be better prepared when she comes in contact with one. He had become protective of her in the short time they were together. Ivan had become very attached to her and he didn't want to see any harm come her way if he could help it. He treated her as if she were his younger sister.

"Did you ever see sunsets this beautiful in Orussia Ivan?" Masako asked as the two leaned over the rail on the side of the ship and watched as the sun started to touch the horizon as if it was sinking into the ocean.

"I can't say I have. I never took the time to look" Ivan said with a smile.

"When you don't take the time to look around in life you miss so much that it has to offer. Even if it's as small as a sunset its still worth looking for." She said not breaking her focus from the clouds in the distance. These words really sunk in on Ivan and made him think. It was true. He had to look for what was being offered in life. He couldn't just wait for it to appear in front of him.

"That's true" he said

"My father would always tell me that when we would watch the sunset in Fuso" she said turning to Ivan and smiling. He returned the smile. The two continue to watch the sun sink until Ivan noticed something strange in the sky. It was easy to spot among the bright sky of color. The black object slowly floated closer to the ship in the distance. Ivan shot away from the rail in fear and grabbed Masako's arm. He pulled her over to the door to the under deck of the ship.

"Hay what are you doing?!" Masako shouted as she was suddenly pulled away from where she was standing.

"Masako" Ivan said very seriously as he turned around, grabbed both her shoulders, and looked straight in her eyes "You have to get to a safe place. We're going to come under attack"

After saying this Ivan opened the door to the cabins and pushed Masako through. The door slammed behind her with the loud clank of metal.

Ivan ran to the Bridge and climbed to the command center to find the Admiral.

"Sir! A Neuroi is approaching." He shouted when he got to the top of the stairs

"What! Why wasn't it picked on the radar" he said as he picks up his binoculars and looks in the direction Ivan shows him and sure enough a large Neuroi was slowly approaching in the distance. "Damn! Battle stations people! Hay your Chief Petty Officer Sidorenko of the Orussian Navy right?" the Admiral asked.

"Yeah why"

"How good are you at positioning cannons? Were a few artillery men short and need someone who knows what they're doing to get down below decks and lay some heavy fire on that bastard."

"Sir yes sir!" Ivan saluted and ran for the main cannon control room.

Masako made her way through the under deck as men ran past her from each direction and loud bells went off warning for the imminent attack. She couldn't make it down the hall at the rate she was going because off all the men getting to their positions. She decided it would be easier to duck into a doorway and wait for things to settle down. She went through the first one she say and closed it behind her.

"*phew* I almost got trampled out there" she said reluctantly as she fell back on the door.

"Hay you!" Masako heard as she opened her eyes to see a group of men ranging from tall and skinny to short and muscular. Most of them were wearing overalls and gloves. The toughest looking one with an eye patch stood in front of them and was the one to get her attention. Masako was very intimidated by the brutes.

"y-yea-yes" she stuttered.

"You're a witch right?!" the man with the eye patch said. He had a short black beard and dark skin but that could be from all the gunpowder that he works around. His shoulders were broad and his pants were baggy. He had a chain around his neck with a cross on it. He was the toughest looking guy in the group.

"Y-yes"

"And witches got some sort of super strength. Right!" he asked

"W-well... Y-yeah" Masako said not knowing what the man wanted

"Well!... we really need your help down here" he said

"Wh..What?" Masako said astonished at how quickly this turned from a group of muscle bound men starring her down to them asking for her help.

"We need to move these heavy shells into the cannons. We would rally appreciated it if you could give us a hand. The faster we can load this thing the faster we can shoot that thing down" he said

"Oh... yeah I can help. I would be glad to help" she said walking over to the large shells.

"You may want to take that white jacket off if you don't want to get it blackened with gunpowder" the tall man said.

"Thanks" Masako said as she put her jacket to the side and grabbed one of the shells with both hands. She starts to lift it but it is still very heavy and hard to move.

"Come on you idiots! She's not going to do all the work by herself! let's get to it!" the man with the eye patch yells as they run over and help her lift the shell and move it to the cannon. Another three grab one of the shells and put it on the ramp to feed the cannon. They were now starting to make good pace with loading the huge ammunition. After a short time they are finished loading the first round and close the hatches.

"What now" Masako asked.

"We wait for them to fire. Then we do it again" the man with the eye patch says with a smile.

Ivan threw open the door to a tight room far under the ship. There was a large table in the center with cranks that adjusted the cannons. There were a few other operators already on station ready to work the cannons.

"So what are we dealing with out there sir" one of the men asked Ivan as he closes the door behind him.

"Well its big I can tell you that" Ivan said stepping up to the table and starts to turn the cranks to get a feel for the cannons.

"Is it Neuroi" another man asked

"I fear that's the only thing it could be" Ivan said as the men around him fell silent knowing the danger they were getting in to. "Well come on! If we don't fight it fast we won't have a chance" Ivan said as the men snapped to their stations and prepared for the defense.

**(La Grange- ZZ Top- Recommended Music);** )

The Neuroi was giant. Its long wings stretched far with a round shape to them. It looked like a giant boomerang floating in the sky. The tips of its wings begin to glow red as two lasers fire and skim across the water narrowly missing the front and back of the ship. The Water explodes high into the air above the New Jersey. Down below deck a man looks through the view finder to get a sight on the enemy.

"Shit that was close" he radios down to the cannon operators. "It's coming in port side. Distance... half a kilometer. Height... 4,000 meters"

Ivan stands below deck and clocks in the information while it is read off to him from another crew member.

"Got it. Making final adjustments" Ivan says as he turns the wheels on the table attempting to keep a lock on the ship. On the deck of the ship the giant cannons slowly turn to the left. Next the huge barrels angle themselves upwards towards its target.

"I need an update on those cannons" one of the men shouts over the officers to the radio man.

"Artillery! Status Update! Are we ready to fire!" the man shouts into the radio.

"Were fully loaded down here" a little girl's voice said through the radio.

"What the hell" Ivan said "Masako! What are you doing in the Ammo hole I thought I told you..." but Ivan was cut off even though Masako couldn't hear him on the other end of the radio.

"FIRE!" the commander shouts into the radio.

With a deafening blast the cannons all went off at once. Each of the three tubes on the cannons shoot a ball of fire followed by a huge metal round that soars straight towards the Neuroi. The Anti Neuroi rounds rip towards the ship at brake neck speed. When they get close enough they shatter into small shrapnel that shreds the outside of the enemy to pieces. The roar of the enemy is almost as loud as the blast of the cannons. All that is visible in the sky is a cloud of black on top of the colorful backdrop of the sunset. From beneath the black cloud white metal starts to rain down to the ocean.

"ITS A HIT!" the man on the view finder. All the men aboard the ship start to roar with cheer and laughter. In the Artillery room the large eye patched man tosses Masako on his shoulder as they shout and laugh. Ivan isn't cheering though. He still stood over the table and continued to position the cannon in the direction the Neuroi was heading in. One of the officers looks over at him.

"What are you doing son" He asked

"These things are tough. We can't be sure it's dead until there is conformation" he said slowly turning one of the wheels.

The intercom starts up with a static and the view finder's voice comes back on "Load the Next round that things still up there"

"LOAD THE NEXT ROUND FAST!" a man repeated into the radio.

"Were on it" Masako responded. The men ran over to the ammo and started to lift it into the cannons.

"What's your plan. You must be coming up with something" the officer asked Ivan as Ivan continued to silently turn the wheels and aim the cannons.

"Well... If you're fighting a Neuroi... you want to concentrate your fire... on one... specific... point" He said trying to get his calculations correct on the artillery arrangement. "Just fire when I tell you to. But not all at once. Just one at a time."

"Were ready to fire down here" Masako's voice came back through the radio.

Another beam fired from the Neuroi. This one struck right across the ship. Men dove out of the way on the upper deck as a flaming explosion followed the strike. The Deck of the ship wasn't badly damaged though. Over the years humans have developed a stronger armor to protect their ships with. This thicker Metal can withstand a Neuroi's beam to an extent.

"Sir. What are your orders" The officer asked

"Give me a second" Ivan said having to readjust the cannons after that hit. "Alright! Fire!" Ivan shouted.

The cannon erupted with another thunderous blast as it fired on the Neuroi. The shot hit it head on breaking away at its armor even further than the previous nine.

"Fire!" Ivan gave the second order after positioning the next barrel. The shot hit in the exact same position as the previous one as the enemy lets out a loud screech once more. Now the core could be seen from outside the Neuroi as it glimmered in the light.

"Let's finish this thing off. FIRE!" Ivan shouted as the last round went off and speed for the core. In a barrage of Shrapnel expelled from the shell the core is torn to pieces. The large Neuroi explodes with a burst of white metal as it sinks down through the sky and slams onto the water.

"It's down! It's going down!" the man working the view finder shouts over the radio. All the crew members begin to cheer once again for their victory over this enemy. Ivan takes a sigh of relief as he walks out of the room and back to the deck.

Masako opened the door to the deck to see Ivan standing on the broken deck and leaning against the guard rail. She begins to walk over to him watching her step on the broken up ground beneath her feet.

"Ivan. I'm sorry I didn't do what you asked..." She said without a response from him. "Please don't be mad at me. I was just trying to help the other crew members. They needed me. I needed to do something to help them. If I hadn't we could have lost allot of people and..."

She was cut off when Ivan got up from the rail and turned to her.

"Masako... I'm not mad at you. You did well and helped allot of people. Your defiantly not as useless as you think." Ivan said.

"Thanks Ivan" Masako said giving him a hug as tears began to grow in her eyes again.

"Hay. There is still some sunset left to watch would you care to enjoy it with me." Ivan said as the two look out on the horizon

"I would love to" She said taking his hand and leaning her head on his arm. Her short brown hair brushing against his jacket in the wind.

"Hay! Do you mind if we join you" Ivan hears from behind him as the two turn around to see the six Artillery men Masako had helped under deck.

"Sure not at all!" Masako said waving to the men to come over.

"Masako! What are you doing. Who are they." Ivan asked

"This is Rig and his cannon boys. I meet them below deck. There nice when you get to know them" she smiled as the large eye patched man walks over to Ivan and looks him dead in the eye.

"You got a problem with us enjoying the sunset with our friend." He said poking Ivan hard in the chest with a big finger.

"Not at all" Ivan said holding his hands up and moving to the side as Rig took his place in between the two

"This is much nicer than below deck eh fellas!" Rig shouts as the men behind him all respond with hearty acceptance.

"At least we will connect with the Horizons Edge soon" Ivan mumbles to himself. "Why can't this ship go any faster" Ivan said feeling defeated even after his Victory.


	11. the Hurricane Witches

**Aboard the Horizons Edge**

Alice sits on her bed and strums some cords on her guitar. The instrument lets out a graceful acoustic sound. The Witches had finished their training for the day and were let off early in the afternoon for some relaxation. There was still plenty of time to train the Witches before they reached the coast and had to fight the hidden threat that was the neuroi. Julia did not want to put too much stress on them when the training had just started so she would allow them to relax at times and cut their training a little shorter.

Aaron lay on his bed above Alice and listened to her fiddle with the guitar. The notes were very peaceful to his ears as he closed his eyes and listened. Aaron had been very stressed out lately. Being Alice's right hand man was not what he would have expected. It was easy to assist her with her equipment and he enjoyed striker maintenance and repair. It was the way Alice acted around him that stressed him out. She was such a free spirit and would express her feelings with him in a strange way. This wouldn't be as bad if Aaron didn't have a crush on her. He was a very shy boy and was unable to express his feelings with girls normally. Now he had Alice giving him kisses on the cheek and wrapping her arms around him at random and he could never tell if it was playful or true feelings. It all wore him out.

"Any requests" Aaron hears from under him. He looks over the edge of the bed to see Alice looking back up at him.

"Excuse me?" Aaron asked

"Any requests? Do you have a song you want to hear soldier boy?" Alice asked holding up the guitar.

"Oh... What do you know" Aaron asked hopping down from his bed and taking a seat next to Alice.

"I know a couple by the Beatles. Do you listen to them" Alice asked

"Yeah. I like them allot." Aaron said finally smiling to the girl seeing they had something to connect with.

"Maybe I should play something romantic for us" as she starts to strum _Yesterday_.

"Oh... Yeah... Ha ha... or something by someone else... Maybe the Animals" Aaron says as he starts to move away down the bed.

"That's another great love song" she said as she changed it over to _Something_.

"That's not what I meant. Maybe we should just talk" Aaron says as he pushes the guitar gently out of the way.

"Alright. You know for all the time we have been together you haven't told me much about yourself Aaron. I'm starting to think you don't like me" Alice says giving him a pouting face.

"No no no no. I like you allot Alice 'more than you know' It's just there isn't much to tell" Aaron says moving back next to her.

"I don't mind. We have all day. Try to come up with something interesting. Where did you learn to ride a motorcycle" she says putting down the guitar and leaning in to listen.

"Well... It all started when I was young. My older brother used to take me out ridding with him all the time. His name was Jack. He was the greatest guy you would ever meet. We used to go everywhere together and we were best of pals. We grew up in a small farm town in Britannia. His goal was always to get out of that town. That's what he always said. He would tell me about the open world on the outside and how we would run away together. Our father was a drunk who was pretty hard on him. I think he was like that after mom left him a few years after having me. Jack really wanted to get away from all the pain of being at home. One day in the night he just had to leave. The only problem was he left me behind. I was so sad when he left because I always thought he forgot about me. It wasn't that. He knew if he took me he couldn't take care of me properly. That was the last time I saw him." Aaron pauses and takes a deep breath. The he sighed.

"Now I was alone with my dad and he didn't have jack to beat anymore so I was next in line. I put up with it for a few years. Then I couldn't take it anymore. It just got really bad" Aaron said as Alice reaches over to him and touches him on the chest. She then began to unbutton his shirt to reveal many scars on his chest and back.

"These aren't battle scars are they" She said touching his back. "If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"No I want to finish. I want you to know" Aaron said. This was the first person he had shared this with since it happened. For some reason Aaron felt comfortable with telling her this.

"Jack had left one of his motorcycles locked up in the shed. I broke the chain with a rock and started the engine. I had never driven a bike before. I had only watched my brother... But in that moment of no turning back as I pushed it up the old dirt road and looked back at the house in the early morning. I knew what my brother had seen. That moment of no turning back. That moment before freedom. I just got on and rode. It was like second nature and I felt so free. I was finally out of there. After that I joined the royal Navy and a year later I'm here with you."

"Aaron. That's... so... Beautiful" Alice said.

"Oh... uhm... thanks." Aaron said as his face turned red.

"No. I'm just... I don't know how to explain it" Alice said as she began to lean over to him as Aaron starts to lie back on the bed to get away from her. He did not know what was going on.

"Alice. Is this another one of your jokes?" Aaron asked trying to re-button his shirt but his hands are shaking too much.

"No. I was never joking. It was always real. I just..." she said with tears in her eyes as a drop falls onto one of Aaron's scars on his chest. Aaron is quiet waiting for what she is going to say. "You would share something so personal with me...*sniff* you trust me with something this important to you... I need to tell you something personal about me"

"What is that" Aaron asked as he wipes a tear off her cheek.

"I... I... I really like you. Not as a joke. All the play and kisses were just me looking for a response from you. I could never ask you till now. I thought you felt the same but I could never be sure. I have always felt this way since the day we met."

The two were silent as they looked into each other's eyes. Alice lay on top of him as Aaron reaches his hand up and strokes it through her hair.

"Alice. I have always had strong feeling for you." Aaron said as Alice brought her head down towards him and their lips met. The two close their eyes as Aaron lays his hands on her back.

But as soon as their love began to blossom it was quickly cut short by the sound of an alarm. The two brake apart in fear of the sudden sound.

"You can't be serious. At a time like this." Alice said as Aaron stands up and begins to put on his shirt and jacket.

"We can always finish latter" Aaron promises extending his hand to her. Alice smiles and gets up off the bed and gives him a hug.

"I always knew you were the right guy" Alice says and the two run out of the room and towards the hanger. As they sprint down the hall doors on each side begin to open as other witches and pilots file out and follow them.

Aaron helps Alice suit up and help her into her striker for takeoff. Alice places her legs into a BAC Lightning F as her ears and tail appear from beneath her hair and from under her jacket. The Lightning was a large striker with many capabilities. Its duel jets stick out from its lower half that allows it to reach great speeds. It had a camouflage paint job over its flat gray coat. Alice had been piloting this model for many years while training with her mother.

"Alright let's get you up there" Aaron said as Alice prepares for takeoff. Far off in the distance a large Neuroi approaches quickly. Its large, four, cylinder like jets explode with a blast of flames as it propels itself towards the ship. Alice's jets pulse and then rocket her off the deck of the ship and towards her enemy. She checks her ear peace and cocks her M21 as she rushes towards the neuroi.

"Alice this is Julia. Do you copy? You're the only one up there right now. Engage the enemy if you can. We will be up there as soon as possible." Julia says over the radio.

"Copy. I think I can handle this" Alice says as she looks through the scope and uses her magic eye to home in on the enemy. With her ability she can see much farther and focus over a greater distance through her sights. She puts the cross hairs on its nose and fires. The neuroi doesn't attempt to avoid the shot and allows itself to be struck head on. It then begins to pick up speed towards Alice's position.

"Oh crap!" Alice says as she pulls back the bolt discharging the shell and loading the next round. She balances the sights on the nose once again and fires. Once again the ship isn't phased by the attack and continues its charge. Alice continues to pull the bolt and load the rifle. She fires almost the whole clip into the neuroi when she realizes it has come very close to her in little time. Before she knew it the ship was right in front of her.

"*GASP*!" Alice says as she puts her arms in front of her face.

Aaron watches in horror from aboard the deck of the ship as he sees the ship collide right into Alice. In a haze of smoke nothing can be seen from outside.

"Alice! NO!" Aaron shouts as a large amount of white metal starts to fall towards the ship. Aaron is frightened and loses his footing as the large sharp metal pieces fall right towards him. The next thing he knows he hears the patter of metal all around him but fells no pain. He looks up to see a large blue shield has appeared above him. He then realizes that Maxine was holding him while projecting her shield to save him from the shrapnel.

"Are you alright Aaron." she asks as the metal rain slows to a halt and Maxine drops the Magic Shield.

"Yeah... Thanks Barkhorn. But what about Alice?" he asked as the two look up to see the smoke had started to clear. To Aaron's surprise he sees Alice had held her ground and destroyed the enemy with a crushing blow with her shield. Alice had her hands in front of her face as she had instinctively raised her shield to protect herself. The Neuroi, moving at such a high speed, Crashed directly into the powerful shield and was torn apart from the inside out. Its shattered pieces falling all over the Horizons Edge.

"Huh" Alice says as she opens her eyes "I did it? I did it!" Alice says as she soars over the runway and down onto the wires to land.

"Nice job Alice!" Aaron said into the mic as he watched her begin her decent. "You might want to slow down if you're going to land it... HAY LOOK OUT!" Aaron shouts as Alice starts to land on the runway but finds she was going too fast and couldn't stop. She ended up crashing right into Aaron as the two slides a few yards down the tar mat. Alice's Striker shoots sparks as it scratches on the ground. Closer investigation would show that there was allot of wear and tear on Alice's striker. This really shows how much of an accident prone pilot she was.

"Ouch" Alice said as she lay on top of Aaron. "I guess I should work on my landings more. Right Aaron... Aaron?"

"Mih Chant Brewth" she hears from below her as she looks down and sees Aaron's face is being smothered in her large breasts.

"Ah! Sorry" she said as she moves her chest off of him and Aaron takes a deep breath.

"Ah... Ha... ha... it's alright." Aaron says as his face has turned very red.

"So... where were we before we were interrupted soldier boy." she says as she started to move closer to him and they begin to kiss on the flight deck. Aaron brushes his hand through her long hair. Little do they suspect the true plan of the neuroi was just beginning?

...

The sun had now set over the horizon and most of the witches had retired to their rooms. In the sitting room Maxine relaxes as she plays a Rolling Stones Vinyl on the Record player. On the couch Antonia sits back and reads a book on Striker maintenance. She nods her head to the beat of the music as she turns the page. Nick and Shina had been listening to the music along with Maxine. After an hour of music Shina had fallen asleep on Nicks lap. Maxine spent most of her nights on the ship listening to her music with whoever was around at the time.

"So you really like rock and roll don't you" Nick said as he lays his hand on Shina's shoulder.

"Yeah. It's always been my way of escaping for a while from the long training my mother would put me through." She said as _Live with me_ ends and _Let it bleed_ begins to play.

"So it must have been tough living with the famous Captain Barkhorn" Antonia said closing the book and putting it on the table.

"It wasn't always bad. She is a nice woman. The training was just rough." She said with a laugh.

"Hmmm... well. This record is almost finished. Let's see if there is anything else good to listen too." Nick said as he lifted Shina's head off of his lap and placed it on a pillow. He then walked up to the shelf and started to shift through the records.

"Hay how about this one. Cream... Disraeli Gears" Nick said as he holds up a psychedelically painted album.

"*Gasp* I love Cream" Antonia says as everyone stares at the normally quiet and shy girl. They did not expect this sudden outburst from her about a music group. This had woken Shina up who was now also looking at her. Antonia's cheeks tern red.

"It would be nice to listen to it" she said now embarrassed of the outburst that would not come from a trained soldier.

"Sure lets listen to it. It looks good" Maxine said smiling to Antonia to as she begins to return to her regular skin tone. Nick puts the record on the turn table and places the pin on it. The record begins to play _Strange Brews _as Antonia starts once again nod her head to the beat.

"It's just such a great sound. Eric Clapton is a guitar genius." Antonia says as she closes her eyes and leans back on the couch and closes her eyes. The others smile seeing that Antonia was able to open up around them. They also started to get into the beat of the music and enjoy it with her.

...

At that time two crew members were up on top of the runway. It was very dark other than the light of the moon. The two were still cleaning off the runway of all the shrapnel from the day's battle. They were able to clear enough space so Richard and Tatyana could take off for their night patrol but there was still much to go. They push their brooms up and down the long runway.

The small piles of metal crowd parts of the ship. Little do the men know of the small intruder that has made its way on to the ship. One of the piles of metal begins to shift and crackle as a small black spider like machine crawls out from the rubble. Its red core sits on top of its body. It begins to crawl over to the two men cleaning the deck of the ship.

"I can't believe they have us out here at night cleaning this mess. Why don't they make the witches clean their own mess" The tall dark haired man said to the short blond man.

"Well they did save us from that neuroi. If they weren't here we wouldn't be floating." the other man says to him.

"Yeah I guess you're OUCH!" The black haired man shouts as he slaps the back of his neck.

"What's wrong" the other man asks.

"I think something just bit me..." the Black haired man says as he starts to become woozy. His joints start to tense up and he crumbles to the ground.

"HAY! You alright" the other man asked as he drops his broom and runs over to him. "Come on what's wrong with you"

Suddenly the black haired man picks up his broom and whacks the other crew member in the chest with it. The man is thrown a few good feet away as the other man stands to his feet. The other man is knocked unconscious and the black haired man begins to drag him to a hidden area. After he hides his body he turns towards the hatch to the under deck. The man fixes his cap as his eyes glow red. He was now completely taken over by the neuroi threat.

...

The group under deck was still listening to the Cream Album as they danced to _Dance the Night Away._They had found something they could all relate to. They all liked music in one way or another and were bonding through the sound of Clapton. Antonia was having allotted of fun with her friends.

"Hay. I just thought of something" Antonia says as Nick turns down the music "Our parents had a name for their joint fighter wind. They were the Strike Witches... well shouldn't we come up with a name for our wing."

"Yeah your right" Maxine said as they all started to think of a name for themselves.

"We need something that says were tough and skilled..." Shina said.

"How about the Hurricane Witches" Antonia said

"Why that?" Nick asked

"We will be the Hurricane Witches because we strike strong from the sea" Antonia said

"That could work" Nick said

"Yeah sounds great. The 354th Joint Fighter Wing! The Hurricane Witches!" Maine said

The next thing the four knew a young crew member stumbles through the door. He was badly beaten and his cloths were torn. Nick runs over to help him to his feet as the man begins to explain what has happened.

"You witches have to help us. One of our fellow soldiers has gone mad and is viciously beating the other crew members. He is very strong... we don't know why he is doing this. You have to help" the man says as he faints from his injuries. Maxine helps Nick move the man to the couch.

"Let's get the others and go find this madman" Maxine says as the others agree with her and run to wake the others.

Antonia opens the door to her room and turns on the lights.

"Richard, Tatyana, we need your help. There is a threat on the ship." she says. She looks into the beds to see that there wasn't anyone in the room.

"Dammit I forgot they left for night patrol hours ago... They are probably miles away by now." she says feeling defeated that her sister and boyfriend won't be here to help her. She than fells someone grabs her shoulder as she spins around to see Michelle.

"Come on we need to go." Michelle says pulling Antonia through the door. The team regroups in the hall and starts to head towards the other end of the ship.

"Alright we have allot of ship to cover so here's the plan" Shina says. "We're going to split up into pairs and spread our search farther. If you see anything let us know over the radio so we can help. Michelle you're with Malcolm." she said as the two turn the hall to search another part of the ship.

"Aaron you take Alice and head up that way. Maxine I want you to go with Antonia and search the lower half of the ship."

"You can count on us" the two say as Maxine opens a door to the stairs and the pair head for the lower decks.

"Alright Nick you and I are going to search the other lower half" She said

"Sounds like a plan. What should we do when we find this madman though" Nick asks.

"I can think of a few things" Shina said grasping the handle on her blade that she grabbed from her room before they left.

"You really scare me some times" Nick says with a laugh.

...

Antonia and Maxine walk through the lower cabins in the lowest part of the ship. It was allot tighter down that far compared to the witches rooms. The gray walls were lit by the bright white lights that hung from the sealing. The silence of the hall sent a chill down Antonia's spine.

"Where are the other crew members?" Antonia asked looking over her shoulder to make sure the man they were looking for wasn't behind them.

"They probably thought they would lose him among all the other crew members. He will be easier to find without all the others crowding the halls" Maxine says as they turn down another hall.

"I guess that's a good point. It's just so quiet and empty... it's creepy" Antonia said as her hands start to shake. Maxine notices Antonia is getting tense from the thought of a madman running around the ship unseen. The environment really wasn't helping.

"Hay... just try to calm down" Maxine says.

"Sorry... it's just... hard" Antonia admits.

"How about we talk about something else to get your mind off of it... You and Richard have been getting really close lately." Maxine says and Antonia snaps out of her fear and is now very embarrassed as her face turns red.

"Oh... yeah... were just... he's such a nice guy... his lips are..." Antonia shakes her head. "Sorry... I still can't talk about him without wandering off."

"That's so cute. I always wish I could find a guy like that. Someone who wants to be close to me as much as Richard is with you." Maxine says and Antonia blushes.

"I'm sure you will find someone like that" Antonia says

"I don't know... It's not like I am going to bump into a great guy out of nowhere" Maxine sighs as they turn another corner. Before they know it a little girl in a white jacket and short brown hair runs past them. Then as Maxine turns to see who it was she is hit in the side and knocked to the ground. She looks to her side to see a boy with silver hair lying next to her.

"I'm so sorry I didn't see you there" the boy said as he helps her to her feet.

"Oh it's... its fine." Maxine says as her face turns red when she takes a better look at the boy. He had the uniform of the Orussian Navy and long silver hair. She noticed he was a little taller than her when she got to her feet. He notices she is blushing and smiles to her which makes her face turn redder.

"Hi there... I'm" He started to say before the brown haired girl grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall. They were obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.

"Come on we have allot of ground to cover. This ship is way bigger than the New Jersey" the little girl tells the boy

"Oh. Sorry I can't stay to chat. I hope I can see you later." the boy says as he follows the young Fuso girl around the corner.

"Yeah... Yeah! Um... talk to you... later" Maxine said even though the boy is already far away. Antonia stands there with her arms crossed and smiles at Maxine.

"Well I guess you were right" Antonia said

"W-What are you talking about?" Maxine says

"You said you weren't going to bump into a great guy and you didn't... you were knocked off your feet" Antonia said with a laugh

"H-hay shut up... I'm not that weak to fall for a guy that easily... I don't even know his name... *sigh* I bet it's a nice name" Maxine says

"Sure you don't. Don't worry once this is over I will help you find this mystery Orussian."

"Thanks Antonia... you're the best" Maxine said giving Antonia a hug as the two continue to search the halls.

...

Michelle kicks in the door and points her flashlight and pistol into the dark room. Malcolm follows close behind with his M1911.

"Clear" Michelle says as they exit the room and turn down the next hall.

"Where do you think this guy has run off to" Malcolm says lowering his gun. "This ship is so big he could be anywhere" Malcolm says as Michelle stops at the opening to the next hall. Malcolm turns around wondering what she is looking at.

"I think I have an Idea" Michelle says waving him over. Malcolm looks down the hall to see the door to the armory is open.

"Be careful... all our weapons are in there" he said holing up his gun and pointing it at the door.

"Don't worry I never miss" Michelle says making sure her pistol is loaded and ready to fire.

"That's not what I saw the day I met you." Malcolm jokes.

Michelle is silent for a few seconds as they reach the door and get into position. "*sigh* now is not the time to joke... well talk latter" Michelle says with a smile.

They slowly open the door and see a man at the far end of the room rustling through the equipment. The two point their guns at his back.

"Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly. We don't want to hurt you." Michelle says and the man stops what he's doing and just looks at the wall ahead of him.

"Michelle look at the back of his neck." Malcolm says as they see a small black spider like neuroi had buried its claws into his spine. Michelle flinches when she sees this disturbing sight. The man turns around revealing his glowing red eyes beneath the shadow of his cap.

"Hay... stop!" Michelle says as the man begins to skulk towards them.

"She said stop" Malcolm shouts pulling the trigger and shooting the man in the leg. He falls to his knee as white blood begins to drip to the ground. His flesh turns from tan to black around the wound and closes it.

"Shit. It's a human neuroi!" Michelle says as the man launches himself at the two. With a quick sweep he kicks Malcolm's legs out from under him and he falls to the ground. Michelle tries to shoot him but the neuroi is too quick and grabs he wrist pointing the gun into the air. The bullets hit the walls and roof with the sound of denting metal. Michelle tries to pull away but his grip is to strong so she forces he magical energy into one big punch and whacks him in the chin. With the sound of bones cracking the man's head is spun to the side away from her fist. Michelle breaths heavily as nothing happens for a few seconds. She tries to pull her hand away again but the grip then tightened. The neuroi throws Michelle through the doorway and far down the hall as she slides on her back and hits the wall.

"Michelle! You bastard!" Malcolm shouts as he gets to his feet and attempts to grapple with the man. He tries to throw a punch but it is neuroi then punches Malcolm in the chest then in the side as the sound of something breaking can be heard. The man then twists Malcolm's arm behind his back and grabs his shirt and lifts him over his head. The neuroi tosses Malcolm down the hall as he collides into Michelle who was wobbly trying to get to her feet. Her arms and legs are thrown out from under her and she falls back on top of him.

"Ahh! watch it" she says

"You watch it" he responds. The two stagger to their feet as the man walks over to the doorway.

"What's the plan... he is much stronger then he looks" Michelle says.

"Yeah... and who knows where the others are." he said Showing that the pocket radio he was holding was what broke when the man punched his side. Malcolm drops it and starts to walk forward to engage the enemy once again. Suddenly the dull end of a saber falls in front of him stopping him suddenly. Malcolm looks to the side to see a boy with blond hair wearing a blue jacket was holding the silver saber. He stepped in front of Malcolm and Michelle followed by a girl with black hair who took her place next to him.

"Sorry were so late" The girl said pulling out a lighter and flicking the flame on.

"We were told to come find you. You're too weak to continue fighting. We'll to our best to hold him off" The boy says as he and the girl snap their fingers and point towards the man. A huge ball of fire and electricity consumes the hall and heads towards the man as he is enclosed by the blast. The lights down the hall explode and the walls are blackened by the blaze. The explosion dissipates and nothing can be seen except for a huge cloud of black smoke.

To be continued.

...

**"Were coming to you live from the control tower aboard the Horizons Edge! This is Tatyana and Ozone's Radio Update! I'm your host Tatyana!"**

**"And I'm your other host Ozone and were here to fill you in on all the news and fun going on! How do you want to start it off today Tatyana?"**

**"Well we could start by saying that we have cool new character pictures that will be going up with these updates. This week Ozone has drawn a picture of my sister Antonia. You can find it here-**

**(It's allot easier to find if you go on Deviant art and search for Antonia Litvyak apocalypse now. It will be the first image to appear. It won't let me post the link without changing it and it would be way too hard to do it the other way. Sorry. If you have any trouble it's under the artist name Ozoneknight.)**

**-I think it looks great. When are you going to draw me Ozone?"**

**"I will get on it for the next update. Ha ha ha. I think the readers will like seeing what the main characters from the story look like in their uniforms. I will attempt to get to all of them in the near future and also do some blueprints for some of the tech used in the story from the strikers to the horizons edge and all the weapons in between."**

**"Sounds cool. I will be sure to help you out when I'm not on patrol with Richard."**

**"Next we have a new poll up on my profile page. Vote for your favorite female character from the story. It will help with writing future chapters and I would like to see who the most liked character is"**

**"Yeah! This will be fun! Speaking of which... who did you vote for Ozone?"**

**"Oh... ha ha... I don't feel at liberty to say... ha ha"**

**"Yeah right. You may have to find someone else to cohost with you soon. Ha ha ha"**

**"Ah. No Tatyana. I don't want to have to rely on anyone else. Ha ha ha. Well were eleven chapters in. so what do you think of the story so far Tatyana?"**

**"It's good. I would like to see more action though. You know... I want to get my first kill. I would also like to see how the others fly and fight. Other than that I can't wait to see what happens next"**

**"Alright finally were going to close the broadcast with a written in song request. If any of you listening on the Horizons Edge want to hear your favorite track just write it in to us up here and we'll play it. The song for our first broadcast comes in from our friend from Karlsland Maxine Barkhorn. She has requested to hear one of my all-time favorites by the Rolling Stones Mother's Little Helper."**

**"Oh I love this one. I'll throw the record on the track. Talk to ya all next time!"**

**(Radio Broadcast Recommended- Mother's little helper- The Rolling Stones)**

**"It's great to relax and listen to the Stones. Hope you enjoy Barkhorn. This is Ozone and Tatyana signing off"**


	12. Ship burning down

The flames clear from the halls with a huge puff of smoke as the electricity lingers in the metal panels and light bulbs. Florenza and Alphonse stand at the end of the hall as they back away from the huge cloud that filled the area. Michelle helps Malcolm to his feet as they look at the destruction that just took place in front of them.

"I think I overdid it a bit for just one guy" Florenza said trying to wave the black smoke out of her face. "here, you two should get back" She said looking over the two badly injured troops. The two then look deep into the fog but can only hear a strange metallic breathing from down the hall.

"I don't think its over yet... Were defenseless in all this smoke. Do you have any ideas Florenza" Alphonse asked holding his saber in front of the group ready to block anything that comes from the black screen of smoke in front of them.

"I can help..." Michelle said staggering out in front of them. she lifts her arm up and points into the fog. A sudden rush of wind overcomes the hall and surrounds Michelle in a vortex. She channels the wind out down the hall and it blows the smoke away. all that was left was a chard body of black on the ground.

"nice job..." Malcolm said as she fell back to him to recover. he pulls her arm over his shoulder to help support her and eases her to the ground against the wall. the two sit down to catch their breath and check if they are wounded.

"thanks... my mom taught me how to do it." She said as she grasped her thigh from a pain. she lifted her coat to see that she had a large cut from her fight.

"oh... Michelle. Your bleeding let me help you" Malcolm said as he takes of his jacket and unbuttons his shirt. He then begins to rip his shirt into pieces and wrap it around her leg.

"no Malcolm. you don't have to do that." Michelle said as she tried to move his hand away but he continues to dress her wound.

"we don't have to do anything. I do it because I care about you" Malcolm said. Michelle looks up at him as he puts pressure on her leg. She realized how kind he was being to her. It was like she had a whole new feeling for him that she had never felt before. As Malcolm places his hands forcefully on the wound to try to stop the bleeding he suddenly feels someone touch on top of his hands. Michelle put her hand on top of his. the moment may not have seemed the most romantic with all the blood but Michelle felt it was the correct time. Malcolm looks up at Michelle and she gives him a smile. It takes him a few moments to realize what is going on but before he can figure it out Michelle leans in and kisses him. She places her hand on his cheek and pulls him in closer to him as her tongue passes into his mouth.

"awww. that's so cute" Florenza said looking back at the two. She then looks over at Alphonse with a devious look on her face. Alphonse returns her look with a scared expression. he is pretty sure what is to come in his future and he doesn't need magic to figure it out.

"Florenza... I don't think its the best time" He starts to say when he notices the black form on the far end of the hall start to move. It still held a human form but looked like a burnt log of wood. When it stood its black burns started to fall off of its body to the ground revealing a black and red interior. all the burns fell from its body and crumbled to dust. Now all that stood on the other end off the hall was a neuroi in the shape of a man. it no longer had any human skin on it all it had was its metal body. Suddenly small portions of skin started to form on its body. The two watch in horror as it grows back its face along with a new uniform. It allows its arms to keep its neuroi armor though. ready to attack or defend itself.

"I guess we didn't do as good a job as we thought." Alphonse said as he lifts his sword and gets into a ready positions to fight.

"Let me handle this" Florenza said stepping in front of Alphonse and pulling a glass container out off of her belt. "I want to get this over with fast so we can get back to our new room" She said winking at Alphonse.

"Is there a way to be scared and in love at the same time" Alphonse said directing his question towards Malcolm only to realize he was still locking lips with Michelle.

Florenza throws the glass container across the hall and it shatters with an orange gel all over the neuroi. The alien stumbles back confused of what was happening. the container was filled with napalm and now it coated a large amount of her enemy. Florenza pulls out her lighter and flicks it to ignite. The gel explodes with a ball of fire and continues to burn all the locations where the gel settled.

"ha! I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" She said triumphantly as the Neuroi burns and falls to its knees.

"Nice Job!" Alphonse said giving her a thumbs up.

Then the neuroi pounds its fist deep into the ground and take a knee. it pulls its burning body as its eyes shine with red light. it extends its arms and they begin to extend far in both directions and flatten. They became long swords with the thinnest and sharpest blades you will ever see. The napalm gel begins to drip down his shoulders and onto the swords.

"nice job." Alphonse said sarcastically. "not only do we have an alien on board the ship... but now his weapons are on fire."

"ops... sorry" Florenza said as the neuroi begins to charge down the hall with its flaming blades extended out on his sides. they ripped through the walls of the hall like they were paper. Alphonse stepped in front of Florenza and held his saber in a defensive position ready to protect her.

* * *

Halsey sleepily climbs the steps to the command center and switches on the lights. he sees that Julia is already there waiting for him. she sits at a table in the center of the huge bridge. On the table are maps of the ship and its many stations along with a radio for communicating with the witches.

"nice of you to finally join me. We have a situation Fleet Admiral Halsey" She stated seriously as he walks over to the table. Halsey still half asleep throws his arms over her shoulders and down her breasts as he begins to feel her chest from behind. Hartmanns eyes shoot open when she feels his hands try to move under her jacket and shirt to get a better position on her tits.

"oh... why do you have to be the serious Hartmann at this time... why cant you be the nice one..." he groans as his hands slip under her bra and he squeezes her. Hartmann quickly pulls his hands away and slaps him across the face. Halsey falls to the ground with an affirmative thud.

"Wake up you moron! You have hundreds of men on this ship in danger right now. its not the time be fooling around" She said fixing her shirt and jacket. clearly Julia was not in the mood to put up with Halsey's... well lets just say to put up with Halsey himself.

"sorry..." Halsey said getting up and fixing his Jacket. The hit had finally woken him up and he was able to think seriously without distraction. "I couldn't control myself around such a beautiful girl." He started to say as Hartmann raises her hand once again and shoots him a mean look.

"I'm up! I'm up! I will control myself" He said and took a seat as she lowered her hand.

"how on earth you become a fleet admiral i will never be able to comprehend." Hartmann said pushing the map over to him.

"maybe we can split a bottle of wine and I will try to break it down for you. But now we need to figure out whats going on. Give me everything you know." Halsey said looking at the map.

"alright. From the communications we have received we have been able to get a direction of interest on our target. A neuroi has gained entrance on board among the wreckage of the earlier attack. It has taken to the body of one of our men and we are to believe that he has been killed by the alien. The enemy has been moving towards the center of the ship and is currently believed to be held at the armory." She said as he looked at the red lines on the map of possible movements of the threat.

"do you know off hand what kind of power we have in that armory. like explosive wise" Halsey asked

"well we mostly keep machine guns and ammunition down there for the witches. there are a few rockets but they be detonated without its launcher that we keep down in the hanger. Its still locked up safely because Tatyana has to train with her striker for a little longer before she can use it but that's beside the point. If your talking about grenades... i think we have a crate or two but we don't really use them for air combat. their not accurate or powerful... you know what I mean" Hartmann said

"So really nothing that can do much damage or be carried in large number..." Halsey said as he started to think of what this creatures goal was. "you got any ideas on what hes up to."

"Well from his current course he is probably trying to hit us hard and cripple us but we aren't sure where it will be." hartmann responded

"lets say he has the grenades... the easiest and most portable of what is down there." he says placing his hands together as if he was praying and closes his eyes. "the hanger is much to large to do any damage that we couldn't repair in a matter of hours. how many grenades could he carry... five seems about right... no area where crew population is higher than any other. that wouldn't seem like an area of interest anyway... The engines would be another target but they are separated into different rooms. there is no way to do any damage we couldn't recover from... and the haul of the ship... I don't think we have anything to fear from that..." Halsey then goes quiet on his rambling as Hartmann just watches him.

'so thats why he is the admiral... he has a very complex way of thinking... I wonder if he handles combat on the ocean this way.' Hartmann thought to herself when suddenly Halsey's eyes shot open and he looked right at her.

"were standing on it" he said softly

"excuse me fleet admiral... what do you mean." Hartmann asked as Halsey jumped up from his seat.

"were standing on it. the comunications! the flight patterns! take off and landings! attack and defense! isn't it obvious!" he started to shout and then he suddenly fell back into a rambling as he paced back and forth. "we should have known. It is all controlled from here. the one thing we don't have the equipment to repair at sea. not on that scale."

"Halsey... William talk to me. where are they going to attack." she said grabbing him to make him stop walking around and get his attention.

"here. where we are now. It is going to strike the bridge tonight." Halsey said

* * *

_(recommended music- House burning down by Jimi Hendrix)_

the Neuroi attempts to slash down on the group but Alphonse deflects its attack with his saber. as the two collide balls of fire fall from the neurois sword around them. a chunk of Napalm lands on Alphonses Jacket and it catches fire. He quickly takes it off and throws it to the side.

"this is going to be harder then I thought" Alphonse says as he begins to think back to what his mother taught him about the sword. from a young age he practiced swordsmanship with his mother and became very talented with the saber. He was at the top of his fencing class before he joined the air force and even won a few championships in the sport. Some may argue that it was because he was a warlock that he had an edge up in the events but his powers didn't come in until a later date. He relied all on his knowledge and quick thinking to become so talented. Although he could never win a fight against Perrine she was confidant in his skills and knew that he came close sometimes.

The Neuroi slashes over and over again at him but Alphonse continually blocks him. The enemies attacks are to quick and Alphonse cant find an opening with all the fire. The Neuroi lunges for another heavy hit but Alphonse quickly avoids it and stabs the man in his shoulder. The aliens arm goes limp as Alphonse digs the saber deep into his flesh. He pulls out just in time to avoid an attack from the other arm.

"Florenza. get the others to safety. I will hold him back for as long as I can." Alphonse said as he locks swords.

Florenza gives him a nod and rushes over to help the two up. they make their way back up the hall and through a door. once Alphonse sees that they are out of harms way he directs his attention to the enemy who still had his sword against Alphonse's saber.

"alright. show me what you really have!" Alphonse said as he pushed the Neuroi away and began to hastily attack him. Alphonse had now gone from the defender to the attacker in this fight in one move. he rained his saber down on the alien from many directions. the Neurois swords were to big and heavy to defend with and it was having trouble keeping up with Alphonse. He finaly pushes the Neuroi back far down the hall and pulls his blade back.

"time to finish this!" he screamed as he stabbed his sword through the Neuroi's chest and out its back. The alien just looked down at the sword and then up at Alphonse.

"oh... that was supposed to kill you... shit..." Alphonse said as the creature knocked him back down the hall. He kept a good grip on the sword so he still had that when he went flying.

The Neuroi rushed at him and pumped in the air. his flaming swords burning high and cutting into the ceiling. Alphonse quickly got to his feet as he began to glow blue. the ears and tail of a jaguar appear from beneath his hair and shirt. his sword glows with an intense blue power that was blinding to look at. he held it up between him and the Neuroi to defend himself. The Neuroi's swords hit it with a defining crash and then shatter to pieces. bits of flame and sword fall to the ground along with the Neuroi who is now quiet literally disarmed.

"looks like your swords couldn't break my magic defense technique" Alphonse said as he stood above the Neuroi. He picked up a radio from the armory and contacted the bridge.

"hello. this is Alphonse Closterman. I have defeated the Neuroi down here and could use some assistance getting him out of here. I..." Alphonse was cut short when he looked out of the Armory and down the hall to see that the Neuroi was not there anymore. suddenly he heard the rattle of boxes and he turned but saw no one there.

"uhm we have a problem... the Neuroi got away. and he took a whole box of grenades with him. I have a count of six grenades missing"

* * *

Hartmann stood over the radio and listened to Alphonse. "Copy that. You tried you best. Regroup and wait for other orders" She said into the mouth piece and shut of the radio.

"Six grenades... so I was off by one." Halsey says to himself as he looks out the window of the control room. He watches the deck until he spots something moving. Sure enough its an angry looking man with glowing red eyes holding a belt of grenades. he was making a b line for the bridge across the runway.

"here he comes. at least I got the location correct." Halsey remarked as he looked over to Hartmann who was unlocking a box.

"were the only ones up here so were the last line of defense. if we lose the bridge then we lose everything" she said pulling two MG 42s out from the box and throwing one to Halsey. He catches it but it almost knocks him over from the wight of the gun.

"so whats the plan commander" he said as they position themselves on the far side of the room.

"I haven't time to think it all through but I do have this... we wait here for the Neuroi to get up here and open the door... then we rip him a new ass hole" She said aiming the gun at the door.

Halsey is quiet for a few seconds. "I like this plan... I'm proud to be a part of it!" he finally said positioning the sights of his gun as well.

the silence is the loudest thing in the room at the moment. you could hear a pin drop on the other end of the ship at this tense moment. Halsey's leg starts to shake and it makes him start to move the gun a little. Hartmann places her hand on his leg and gives him a reassuring glance to calm him down. then the sound of a heavy metal door opening can be heard. Then the heavy footsteps of the alien climbing the steeps to the control room. every one getting louder and more spaced out. the loud metallic breathing can once again be heard and it almost sounded like he was no longer carrying the grenades but dragging them behind him. as if they had become to heavy for him to hold.

'he is weak... he doesn't have much energy left after his fight.' Hartmann thought to herself as she got ready to engage the enemy.

the door squeaked and rattled as the neuroi turned its knobs to open it. It slowly swung open and the Neuroi stumbled through almost losing its balance.

"ATTACK!" hartmann shouted as the two opened fire on him. The bullets sparked up on his chest and head like an explosion of yellow light. the immense kick from the attack sent him back through the door but the two didn't let up. they continued to fire as the rattle of their buzz saws filled the night air. a sea of shells lay at their feet as the rails of their gun began to burn red hot from the heat of the bullets.

The Neuroi sprang across the hall outside the door and ran for a ladder to escape from the barrage of bullets. Halsey and Hartmann gave chase and opened fire when he was climbing out onto the roof of the bridge. bullets followed him through the opening as the Neuroi slammed the hatch shut. He did not want them to get to him so he quickly knelt down by the hatch and used his beam to seal it shut. it was a much smaller beam compared to the regular neuroi and in its weakened state he could barely muster the strength to use it.

Suddenly a boot kicks him in the side of the head and sends him toppling across the roof. He tries to get to his feet but gets hit with a haymaker to the top of the head sending him right back down to the ground.

"hello comrade... I didn't think we would be meeting tonight. If your anything like the one of your kind i killed not long ago then this will be over quickly." The Neuroi heard from above him as he looked up. He saw a Young Orussian boy with long silver hair standing above him. The boy backed off and clenched his fists getting into a fighting stance.

"now get up and let me beat you down!"


	13. Ivan's victory Richard's Failure

**(recommended Music- For Those About To Rock- AC DC)**

The neuroi unsteadily gets to its feet as Ivan delivered a heavy punch to its chest. It attempts to block it but is forced backwards. Ivan Then swings a kick that lands on the Neuroi's side and knocks it to the ground once again. its face bleeds a black ooze from beneath its human skin. Its disguised flesh begins to break down in certain points across its body revealing its neuroi shell underneath.

"I would have thought you would be tougher. If this is all we are up against then I will be back in Orussia before the new year" Ivan Jokes as he gets ready to finish his enemy off with one more punch into the ground. before he makes contact the neuroi rolls to the side and Ivan's fist slams into the ground hard. He grabs at his hand to try to stop the pain. He watches as the Neuroi looks at him and then the grenade belt he had dropped earlier. It runs at Ivan and Slides through his legs before he can land another hit. Grabbing the grenades and buckling them around its chest it then stands to confront Ivan.

"well you turned it on quickly... I guess It takes allot of energy to keep that disguise on" He said seeing that about half of the human skin had broken off and not replaced itself. The Neuroi's eyes glow bright red as the rest of the pink flesh breaks away and disintegrates into a red mist leaving only a totally black figure in front of him.

"I probably shouldn't have said that" Ivan said putting up his arms to defend himself. The Neuroi sprints at him full speed and pulls its arm back before clocking him square in the face sending him flying across the roof. Ivan attempts to get back up but is then kicked in the stomach and then hit in the back of the head by an elbow. The Neuroi lifts its foot up about to slam down on him but Ivan kicks his other leg out from under him. The neuroi hits the ground with a heavy metal slam and Ivan uses this time to get back on his feet and put some distance between him and the threat. the neuroi gets back to its feet and once again charges Ivan. Instead of a punch this time it jumped into the air to deliver a forceful kick that had the power of getting hit by a truck. Instead of trying to defend himself from this attack Ivan runs right at the Neuroi. At the last second dropping to his knees to avoid it. The Neuroi continues through the air until it hits a large vent across the way. Its leg pierces through the metal and becomes stuck.

"well now the playing field is even" Ivan said cracking his knuckles about to go to town on the annoyance. The Neuroi continuously tries to pull its leg out but to no avail. It then turns to Ivan and places its arm out towards him with his hand in a fist. It glows red and fires a laser right at him. He drops to his back before it takes his head off. the laser continues and cuts some metal rods that were used for communication.

"It can shoot lasers! Why didn't it do that before!" Ivan said scrambling to his feet. The Neuroi just ignored him and used its laser to cut through its own leg. It falls through the ground but a white light consumes its wound and restores its leg as it stands back up.

"wow... how much energy did it take for you to keep that disguise?" Ivan said as the Neuroi rushed him once again. Ivan grappled with it before using its own weight against it to drop it to the ground. Ivan kneels on its arms so it cant get back up and begins to punch it in the face repeatedly. over and over Ivan bashes at the neuroi's face until its eyes begin to dim.

"You bastards!" Ivan said as his hands began to bleed. "When will you stop! When WILL IT STOP!" He shouted and balled his fist together above his head about to bash its skull in but the Neuroi quickly lifts its arms throwing Ivan off of it.

Ivan lay on his back with bloody hands huffing and tired. The Neuroi stands above him blocking the moon from sight as it looks down on him. The neuroi's face glows with a bright white light as it repairs itself. It then picks up Ivan and lifts him over its head turning to the metal bars it had recently cut that were not only sharp from the slice but also still red hot.

About to drop Ivan on them back first and finish him off the Neuroi lines itself up as if it wanted to get the perfect impalement that would make Ivan suffer the most before he died.

"Let the Orussian go!" The neuroi herd as it turned around. The next thing it knew it was hit in the face with a tremendous amount of force. Ivan falls from its grip and is quickly caught in the arms of a glowing blue figure. he looks up to see its the brown haired Karlsland girl he had met earlier.

"are you alright" Maxine asked.

"yeah i'm fine. the only thing hurt is my pride. can you put me down" Ivan said as he realises he is being held by the witch in a way a man would hold a woman. just the other way around.

"oh yes sorry" she said placing him on his feet.

"Its really nice to see you again." Ivan said as they turned to the neuroi who was now starting to get up once again.

"really?" Maxine said blushing.

"yeah. I would have been a shish kabob if you hadn't shown up" Ivan said smiling to the girl.

"oh" Maxine said thinking how obvious it was that the comment was directed towards her saving his life and that she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. they had just met after all.

The Neuroi runs over and Maxine gives it another fist to the jaw. Ivan takes its head and slams it into the ground. it attempts to retaliate but the two aren't giving it a chance.

Ivan and Maxine finally back it to the edge where the only other place to go is the ocean. it tries to throw one last punch but ivan avoids it and pulls the pin on one of the grenades it had around its chest. Barkhorn then delivered a kick to its stomach sending it off the side of the ship.

Before Maxine had finished her kick though the Neuroi grabbed her leg and tried to pull her off with it. she fell to the ground and started to slip off the side of the boat. with nothing to hold on to she was about to plunge into the ocean. Suddenly a bloody hand reaches down and grabs he wrist.

"don't worry I got you!" Ivan shouted over the side of the bridge as he began to pull her in.

The Neuroi slammed into the watter back first and then one by one explosions went off. one grenage would trigger the next as the water splashed up high into the sky. a mix of smoke, fire, and water filled the sky next to the boat as Ivan finally pulled Maxine back up and the two sat next to each other in relief.

"that was a close one... I almost lost you before I could introduce myself. my name is Ivan. Ivan Sidorenko" he said putting his hand out.

"Barkhorn. Maxine Barkhorn" She said shaking his hand.

"that's a cute name." Ivan said as he looks out onto the ocean. Barkhorn blushes and then leans in and kisses him on the cheek. Ivan's face turns red and he looks at her.

"what was that for?" He asks

"well you saved me. I thought I might return the favor." Barkhorn said looking down at her feet.

"oh... I guess were even" Ivan said. 'but she saved me first. this wasn't something just to show she was thankful. this is definitely something more. and now I owe her a kiss' Ivan thought to himself. he then looked over at her. 'I think i will save it for the right time' he thought

* * *

After the new crew members had introduced themselves and were caught up on what was going on they all reported to their cabins. Maxine is on her way to her cabin when she reaches for her door and another had attempts to open it at the same time. their hands make contact and Maxine quickly pulls hers back. She looks next to her to see Ivan was about to open the door. He was followed close behind by Masako.

"oh Ivan... what are you doing here?" Maxine asked.

"These are our new quarters aren't they" He asked.

"Oh i guess the rooms are all full" she said looking down the hall to see all the other pairs entering their rooms. She opens the door and lets them in.

"there are only two beds?" Masako said looking through the door.

"yeah. I guess they made some kind of mistake. If you want. you can crash in the bottom bunk with me Ivan..." she said trying not to make eye contact.

"Oh I..." Ivan started to say when suddenly the door benind them opened and Julia poked her head through.

"Hay Ivan. Halsey wants to see you on the Bridge for a minute" she said

"oh alright. I will have to get back to you on that Barkhorn" Ivan said as he leaves and she breaths a sigh of disappointment.

"whats wrong" Masako asked as she hopped up into the higher bunk.

"you have been traveling with Ivan for a while. what is he like" Maxine asked.

"well he is very kind and fun to be around. He isn't as serious as he leads on when you get to know him. he is also very protective of me when it came to combat. he is my older brother from Orussia" she said with a smile.

"alright. so you don't see him like i do. he is more like family" Maxine said.

"what do you mean. how do you see Ivan" Masako asked.

"I think... I have a crush..." Barkhorn said. coming to this realization turns her face red once again.

* * *

"you wanted to see me Fleet Admiral?" Ivan asked as he walked into the room. he looks around to see that not only was Halsey present in the room but also Richard, Antonia, and Alice.

"yes thank you for joining us on such late notice. please take a seat." He said as Ivan pulled up a chair.

"now than I have an important message for you four" he said pulling out a radio and places it on the table. he then switches it on and a mans voice comes on.

"hello is this thing on" the voice of an older man was rough over the radio. "hello there brave pilots and Naval officers aboard the Horizons edge. This is the president of the United States of Liberion, Richard Nixon." the man said as the four were surprised that the president was contacting them.

"I would like to thank you for keeping the crew of the Edge safe from the evil alien menace and even the crew of the New Jersey safe. you four are the first to have killed a Neuroi attacker in a long time. you should be proud. you are serving your homelands gracefully and with honor. I wish I could be out there to thank you myself but they tell me it would be to dangerous. So I made some calls and got patched through with your Fleet Admiral." Nixon said.

"Thank you very much Mr President" The four said.

"oh please... call me Nixon. Now I would like to get to another important point I called you about. once all this fighting is over with in Vietnam and you have successfully eradicated the Neuroi threat I would like you to train My witches, Pilots, and Navy commanders so that they may protect us in the event of another attack. I'm not asking you to just leave your squad now but only when the jobs done. and that probably wont take long. I doubt the Neuroi have any real reinforcements tucked away in Nam. It wont take long for you to be state side."

"so we will be a team of trainers." Richard asked

"oh no. far from it. you will be separated across the USL training man and women in the most prestigious academies of your skill set." Nixon said as everone went quiet and looked at Richard to respond. Antonia looked at him desperately to refuse the offer because she knew that they would be separated miles away from each other and would probably never see each other again.

"Mr. President... We may need to think it over but I think that for the good of the earth and its future we all accept you offer." Richard said

"I'm glad to hear it son. Again I thank you for your dedication and bravery. this is president Richard Nixon signing off" He said as the radio went silent.

Tears began to appear in Antonia's eyes after hearing this. She gets up from her chair and heads for the door.

"Antonia where are you going?" Richard asked as she left the room.

"I'm tired. I'm head back to my room to sleep!" she said slamming the door behind her.

The group is quiet as they look at Richard.

"I think I just made a huge mistake..." Richard said as he slowly got up. Pushed his chair in. And left the others.


End file.
